The Marauders and the First Book
by rawr52
Summary: "Hi James Potter! I'm James Potter! Your grandson from the future!" The children of the next generation find some strange books in Harry's study, and decide to go back into the past to change the future. Rated T for safety.
1. Prologue

**The Marauders and the First Book**

**By rawr52**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER – THE RIGHTS BELONG TO JK ROWLING! COMPRENDER?**

**Summary: Yup, I know this story has been done already like a hundred million billion squillion etc. times, but please give it a chance anyway! Enjoy loads!**

**Prologue**

There are many things, even in the wizarding world, that a person would pay to see. From a phoenix birth to a Giant wedding; from a gnome's birthday party to the Chudley Cannons actually winning a match; of all these things, to see _the _James Potter speechless was probably top of the list. Which was most likely why, Lily Luna speculated, as she stared into the face of her dad's godfather from the past (there's a sentence she never thought she'd say) the boy looked like he was getting way more of a kick out of it than he should.

In all fairness though, the other boy had every right to be confused. After all, he _had _just seen his grandchildren from the future and co. appear out of thin air in front of him with a time turner and a bunch of children's books. She'd be confused too.

_-Flashback-_

"_I'm bored!" Sirius moaned. It was a regular day in the Gryffindor common room. He and his friends were sitting aimlessly around in the best armchairs by the fire (Marauder's privilege); or rather _he_ was sitting aimlessly. Moony meanwhile, was poring over his transfiguration notes, mumbling quietly to himself as he searched for something to help him with his essay. James was lounging in his armchair, perfectly relaxed, a faraway look in his eyes as he dreamed about everyone's favourite red-head. Wormy was switching between gazing admiringly at Sirius and James, and sneaking peeks at Remus's homework whenever the werewolf wasn't looking. A low babble of chatter thrummed in the background with a kind of senseless, soothing rhythm. Yup, perfectly regular, thought Sirius, who was gazing around the common room with a distinct air of boredom. He hated it. And not only because the word regular reminded him of his younger brother._

_He looked around expectantly, waiting for someone to answer his statement. No one did. He fixed his eyes on Prongs, who was still off in la-la land judging by the glazed look in his eyes. "Prongs." He said, clearly expecting some form of recognition. He got none. "James." He tried, leaning forward in the love seat he was occupying by himself (much to the disgruntlement of the many people who were standing around, seat-less) and speaking a little louder in an attempt to capture the boy's attention. "Oi, James!" He said, finally losing patience. Nothing. He sighed. There was only one thing for it._

"_Lily Evans, stop stripping in the common room!" He shouted loudly, grinning when his friend immediately jerked out of his daydream and began looking wildly around. "There's a time and a place!" James scoured the room frantically with eager hazel eyes. He wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved when he saw no sign of the girl anyway in the room. But it wasn't until he looked back round, with a puzzled expression, to see Sirius rolling around on the floor, pissing himself laughing, that he caught on._

"_Padfoot!" He yelled at the boy, pouting childishly. "What have I told you about making naked Lily jokes?" A few chuckles were heard from the people around them who'd been eavesdropping, as Sirius continued to howl with laughter, tears of mirth leaking down his cheeks, which he would later vehemently deny ("I've never cried in my life!"). James's glare intensified as he realised that even Remus was sniggering. Sirius however, took no notice, laughing until his ribs hurt and he had multiple stitches. James narrowed his eyes._

"_You look like your great-great-grandfather!" He yelled suddenly, and Sirius immediately stopped laughing, lips clamping together, and eyes narrowed to slits._

"_Take that back!" He yelled, glaring at James, who merely smirked and stuck out his tongue._

"_No!" The stag animagus answered childishly_

"_Take it back!"_

"_No!"_

"_Argh!" And suddenly, Sirius had a squirming James in a headlock._

"_Padfoot!" James yelled, attempting to bat his hands away. "Okay!" He yelled, finding no escape. "Okay, I' m sorry! You don't look like you great –great-grandfather!" Padfoot smirked and released him from the headlock._

"_You look like your great-great-_great_-grandfather!" He yelled, and then turned on his heel and fled through the portrait hole._

"_Get back here Potter!" Sirius roared, scrambling over the armchair James had been sitting in and bolting for the door. "Get you arse over here you scrawny git!" And he took off down the corridor after his friend, the spectators from the common room chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" behind him._

_Remus, still in his armchair, slowly put down his Transfiguration book and sighed. "Oh boy."_

_..._

"_Get back here Prongs!" Sirius yelled, and suddenly, he ran right into the boy and forced him back into a tight headlock. "Apologise!" He yelled as the boy let out a girly shriek._

"_Ah, what the hell?" The boy yelled, kicking and squirming. "Let go of me, you mad-man! I haven't done anything!" Sirius thought he heard four of five people laughing a short way away, but ignored it, focussing entirely on getting an apology out of his friend._

"_Um… Padfoot?" He spun round when a familiar voice tore him from his strangling._

"_Wha-?" There, before him, stood James, smirking and raising his eyebrows at his friend, who looked down to see that the boy in his arms, while he looked like James, wasn't him at all. "Oh. Sorry." The boy jumped back once released and rubbed at the back of his neck, eying Sirius reproachfully._

"_What was that for?" Sirius suddenly realised why it was he had thought this boy was James. He was shorter than James, about the height his friend had been in third year. He had James's face, the same scrawny build. He too wore glasses, but the eyes behind them were not hazel, but a warm chocolate brown._

"_Um, James?" Sirius said, turning to the real James. "You sure that's not you?" As he spoke, he heard a gasp._

"_Yes Padfoot. Quite sure." But Sirius wasn't looking at James any more. Instead, he had turned and was looking at the girl who had gasped._

_She was a small, red haired girl, with a pile of books in her arms and those same warm, brown eyes. As he turned, she let out another gasp, eyes raking over him. "Sirius? Sirius Black? Is that you?" There were more gasps, and Sirius turned around to see that he was surrounded by children._

_There was another boy, who looked almost exactly like the first, except that his eyes were bright green rather than brown, and he was shorter. The other boy was older than all of them, and was in fact, more like a man than a boy. He had bright blue hair and penetrating eyes. He looked vaguely familiar. In fact they all did. The last person there, a girl with flaming red hair was holding in her hand a small, rounded glass case on a chain, in which an hourglass was quivering. They all looked shocked._

"_Yes." Said Sirius slowly, in answer to the youngest girl's question. "That's me."_

"_And you," The girl turned to James, some strange emotion clouding her brown eyes. "You're James Potter." It was more a statement than a question. James frowned._

"_I'm sorry, do I now you?" He asked, none too politely. The girl blinked, and seemed to be holding back tears. The youngest boy – the one with the bright green eyes – put an arm around her, and gazed reproachfully at James, his eyes full of that same emotion. The boy whom Sirius had mistaken for James however, was suddenly grinning broadly._

"_No way!" He yelled, with a smile so big it hurt just to look at, "This is so cool!" He grinned at James. "Hi James Potter! I'm James Potter! Jr!" James (Sr) stared._

_-Flashback-_

"You're – You're who?" James stuttered, finally braking out of his trance.

"James Potter Jr!" Little James yelled excitedly. "Your grandson from the future!" Behind him, the little girl who'd asked Sirius his name, face-palmed.

"James!" She scolded, exasperated. "You can't do it like that! This James is just 17 years old!" She gestured to James Sr. "He isn't even married yet! Him and grandma probably haven't even got together yet!" She rolled her eyes. Sirius grinned. It was a little funny seeing the midget shouting at what seemed to be her older brother. Sighing at her brother's un-repenting face, she turned to the two Marauders.

"Hi." She said, smiling slightly, "My name is Lily Luna Potter. I come from the future. That there is Albus Severus Potter, my brother." She gestured to the boy with bright eyes. "And that pile of dung," She glared at James Jr. "Is James Sirius Potter. This might be a little weird for you, but we're your grandchildren."

"Albus _Severus_?" James scowled, looking at the middle child and trying not to let his disgust show. "As in Severus _Snape_?"

"James Sirius?" Sirius grinned, his words overlapping with James's. "Like, me, Sirius?" Then he frowned. "Hey! How come it isn't Sirius James?"

Lily sighed. "Yes, Severus as in Snape." She said in answer to James's question. "And before you say anything against him, don't." She turned abruptly to Sirius. "And yes, Sirius as in you, Sirius Black. And I assume my dad names him James Sirius because _his_ dad meant slightly more to him than his godfather.

James blinked. But only one word of that seemed to have gotten into Sirius's head. "Godfather? I'm James's son's godfather?" He squealed loudly in a girlish manner when Lily nodded the affirmative. "Yes! Ha, in your face Moony!"

"What about Moony?" Came Remus's voice as he and Peter rounded the corner, panting heavily. "Hey, where did you two go? We've been looking for you!" He came to a stop when he saw his friends were talking to. "Huh?" He said lamely.

"Remus?" Lily asked, smiling. "Remus Lupin?" But someone else spoke over her.

"Dad?" The four boys from the present turned to the blue haired boy. Remus blinked, bemused.

Lily gave a watery smile, and coughed back a sob. She could be a little over emotional at times. "Remus," She sniffed, and the werewolf turned to her, "This is Teddy Remus Lupin, your son from the future." Remus froze, and stared at the boy looking as though he'd been hit over the head with a beater's bat. There was a moment's silence before-

"Hello?" Everyone turned to see the other red-haired girl looking rather cross with her hands on her hips. "Isn't anybody going to introduce me?" James (Jr) snickered, and she shot him a look.

"Um…" He stammered, looking quite honestly scared of the girl. "This is Rose Weasley. The granddaughter of Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett. She's my cousin."

Rose smiled and nodded approvingly. "Now that's more like it."

"Um, sorry to interrupt," The last of the Marauders spoke and everyone turned to look at him. Remus noticed that the children from the future seemed to be looking at Wormtail with some hostility. "But how come you're in our time?"

Rose scowled, apparently annoyed at him for asking such a valid question. Remus frowned. Something definitely wasn't right. He looked from Wormtail, who looked confused, to Rose, who reluctantly answered the question. "We were going through some of Uncle Harry's stuff-"

"Harry? My son's called Harry?" James grinned. "I like it."

"Anyway, we were going through Uncle Harry's stuff," She said again in a softer voice, smiling at James. "And we found these books." She gestured to the books in Lily's arms. "They were all about his school years and all the stuff that happened to him. Then I found a time turner in my mum's desk. I think it's the only one left in the world. My mum must have snagged it from the Department of Mysteries." She ignored the four boy's stunned glances at that. "So anyway, we decided to come into the past and show you the books so we could change the future." A determined look came into her clear blue eyes at this, and Remus could've sworn her eyes flashed to Peter for a moment. "Anyway, if you don't want to read you don't have to, but it's a chance to change all the horrible stuff your son has to go through." She looked at James as she said this.

James nodded. "Let's read."

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are like air for me. Leave some! Let me breathe! :) Read on!**


	2. The Boy Who Lived

**A/N: Thanks for ****everyone who has read or reviewed so far! I think this is the best response any of my fanfics has ever had on the first day! Is that sad? Anyway, thanks in particular to bonfiaco16, who left the first review, and Alex11215, whose advice was very helpful and which I've tried to incorporate into this. Thanks also to hmiller0903, LilyLavender14 and CountDoom who have reviewed the story so far! Now, enjoy!**

**The Boy Who Lived**

"Where are we going?" James asked as the Marauders followed the five children down the castle's many corridors and up a few flights of stairs.

"Room of Requirement." James Jr said cheerily, grinning at him. "So is this cool or what?" He said, looking up at what looked like an older version of himself. "You're my grandpa!" He looked wistful for a second. "I've never met you." Lily, who had been watching the conversation from the corner of her eye, turned and hit James round the head.

"James!" She hissed, and James clapped a hand over his mouth, realising his mistake.

Then he shrugged, "Oh well, they were going to find out soon enough anyway. He turned back to the four men. "You're all dead in our time." His expression was, for once, serious. The Marauders looked at each other, staring. Sirius gulped. His friends were dead? How was that possible? How could anyone live in a world where they didn't exist? It wasn't possible.

Remus, catching on, looked at Teddy. "You've never met me." He said quietly. The man looked down at him, eyes sad and searching.

"Never." He said in a low voice. It was oddly unsettling for him. He's seen the pictures of his dad. Pictures of a scarred, tough looking man. He'd always idolized him, even when he'd never known him. To meet his dad now, and to look down on him just felt _wrong_. The two stared at each other for a moment longer, before they turned and carried on walking, following the others in an oddly amiable silence.

As they reached the portrait of Barnabus the Barmy on the seventh floor, the group stopped and, as one, began to pace.

_I need a place to read the book. _They thought. _Somewhere comfortable. Preferably somewhere with a punch bag._ Al added the last bit in his mind, thinking of the way his father was treated in these books. They'd need a way to relieve their anger. On the third turn, the group stopped pacing, and turned to the wall. Where there had once been just a blank stretch of wall, now stood an ornate door. Al reached out a hand, and pushed it open.

James grinned as he entered the room. It was, by fire, one of his favourite in the castle. It was the place he'd go to hide out if he was down, or even the place the Marauders would go sometimes to plan pranks or hide from Filch. He loved it. Today, it was looking particularly warm and cosy.

Scarlet wall hangings lined the walls, embroidered with golden silk – the Gryffindor colours, he noticed with pride. A soft, orange light filled the room, from no particular source. It was just there. There were four squashy red sofas and one inviting armchair. He blushed when he saw, on the wall, a picture of his favourite red-head, hanging up. He heard Sirius on his right, let out a soft chuckle, seeing it too. He spied a punch bag dangling from the ceiling in a remote corner of the room and frowned. That was weird.

"Let's sit." Said Rose, taking a seat on one of the sofas. Al sat down next to her, grinning as he wiggled around, getting comfortable. James Jr and Lily took the sofa to their right; James Sr and Sirius taking the one to their left. Remus and Teddy exchanged hesitant looks before taking the last remaining couch. Wormtail's eyes darted around the room as he settled into the armchair. His stomach grumbled and he dug around in his pocket, withdrawing some-

"Cheese?" James scoffed, rolling his eyes at his friend. "Cheese, Wormtail? How rat-like of you." Sirius sniggered beside him as Wormtail blushed. The five from the future exchanged knowing looks.

"Okay," Said Rose promptly, taking one of the books from Lily. "I'll read first." She gave a cough to clear her throat before reading.

**Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.**

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Remus cut in, staring. "Isn't that-?" But Teddy clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh!" He whispered, "You'll ruin the surprise."

Rose grinned before she continued to read.

**Chapter One, The Boy Who Lived.**

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.** Rose giggled as Sirius let out an exaggerated yawn. **They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Really? How interesting." James said dryly, rolling his eyes.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"Drills?" James asked interestedly, looking at Sirius, who took Muggle Studies.

"Something boring." Sirius assured, and James nodded, satisfied.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. **

"Charming."

"Sounds like Slughorn."

James and Remus spoke at the same time, and then turned to smirk at each other.

**Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on her neighbours.**

"Nosy much?" Sirius muttered.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Dudley?" James screwed up his face in distaste. "Who calls there son Dudley?"

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but the also had a secret, and there greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

"Bet it's drugs." Sirius and James said simultaneously.

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"Oi!" Called four voices at once, and the Marauders glared at the book. "There's nothing wrong with the Potters!" Sirius growled.

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister,**

"So in answer to your earlier question, your sister-in-law calls her son Dudley." Sirius grinned at James, while the latter looked horrified.

"Those _things_ are my family?" He said, disgusted.

**But they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband**

"Oi!" The Marauders chorused again.

**Were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"UnDursleyish." Sirius grumbled. "That's not even a word."

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

James rolled his eyes. "Nice to know we're welcome." He said, at the same time that Sirius said, "As if they'd want to come."

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son too,**

"Harry." James said proudly, and the children (and man) from the future grinned.

**But they had never even seen him.**

"Good. I don't particularly want you around my son." James growled.

**This boy was another reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Hey!" James snapped. "I don't really want my child mixing with a child like yours either, but at least I'm nice about it. The Potters from the future smiled. Their dad would have been touched by that.

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.**

Sirius grinned. Finally something fun was going on!

**Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie**

James rolled his eyes.

**For work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his highchair.**

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

The Marauders exchanged a look.

**At half-past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Wonderful child." James said sarcastically.

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley**

"Okay, spoilt brat." James muttered. Remus chuckled at his friend's antics.

**As he left house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive,**

"A tabby cat?" Sirius asked slowly, "But that sounds like…"

**But there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Yeah," James, who seemed to have taken a sever dislike to this man, snorted, "Because the light always looks like a map."

Sirius smirked. "Don't worry mate, we'll prank when we meet him." James grinned.

**Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.**

"Ooh, staring contest!" Sirius grinned. "Go cat!"

**As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said **_**Privet Drive**_** – no, **_**looking**_** at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or**_** signs.**

"That's what you think." Sirius grinned.

**Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's strange about that?" Wormtail asked, confused.

Lily scowled at him, "People don't wear cloaks in the muggle world." She said shortly, and left it at that.

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes –**

"Wow, he must be a bundle of laughs on Halloween." James said sarcastically. He really didn't like this man.

**The get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a bunch of these weirdos**

"You're a weirdo." James grumbled.

**Standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all;**

James muttered something that sounded like "Rhinoceros".

**Why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!**

"Butt out of other people's business, Dursley!" James growled and Rose sighed.

"Much as I'd hate to hex one of my cousin's grandparents, I will if you don't stop interrupting!" She threatened, and James quietened down. Even if the girl was at least four or five years younger than him, she was still scary looking.

**But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably just some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He**_** didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight,**

The Marauders all blinked and stared at each other. The owls were usually so careful!

**Though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

The Marauders frowned, picturing it. "Something pretty big must've happened for the owls to be behaving like this." Remus said shrewdly. The others nodded.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time.**

"But how did they send their post?" Wormtail looked confused.

"Don't be an idiot Wormtail!" James sighed. "The muggles have different ways of sending messages. The postal service I think it's called." He looked to Remus and Sirius for confirmation, both of whom nodded.

"Oh."

**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"So a very productive day then." James muttered. Rose sent him a warning look and he quickly snapped his mouth shut.

**He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

James opened his mouth, possibly to say something about just how little the man needed to be fattening himself up even more, but Rose reached into the back pocket of her jeans and took her wand out, pointing it threateningly at him. He quickly shut up.

"You know, you shouldn't keep your wand in your back pocket." Sirius said well, seriously. "You could lose a buttock."

James raised an eyebrow. "Who do you know that's lost a buttock Padfoot?" He grinned.

Sirius pouted. "Just giving some friendly advice." He said. The people from the future grinned at each other, exchanging humorous looks. That sounded familiar…

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed.**

"None of your business Dursley!" James sang. Rose rounded on him, but Teddy got there first.

"Oh for goodness sake!" The youngest Lupin snapped. "_Silencio!"_

Remus stared at him. "Good one son!" He grinned, and Teddy blinked swiftly, before grinning back. Lily's eyes filled with tears. James meanwhile, was glaring at Moony and mouthing what the latter guessed to be profanities at him. Remus stuck his tongue out at the fellow Marauder before turning to Rose and nodding at her to keep reading.

**He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.**

James mouthed something at this, but Rose merely smirked and read on.

**This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag,**

"Fatty!" Sirius muttered, seeing as James couldn't do it himself. The stag animagus sent the other Marauder a grateful look.

**That he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

The Marauders all turned to look at James, who shrugged.

"**-yes, their son. Harry-"**

The Marauders looks became a little troubled.

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded through him.**

"Drama queen." Remus couldn't help himself but mutter. He had a strong suspicion that the word James was mouthing at him was "Hypocrite." Remus smiled beatifically at the boy, doing his best to seem innocent.

**He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number **

"Whoa, major over reaction." Sirius muttered, having taken over James's role as the most annoying, in Rose's eyes.

**When he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"Big surprise."

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

"Not in the muggle world anyway." Remus said.

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry.**

"He doesn't even know his nephew's name?" Sirius looked disgusted.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

Sirius began to grumble something about just how terrible those names were, while James had a look of pure repulsion on his face, which was screwed up rather comically. Lily giggled.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.**

"Coward." Sirius muttered.

**He didn't blame her – if **_**he'd**_** had a sister like that… but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"And they survived?" Sirius asked. James tried to chuckle, but glared at Rose when no sound came out. He settled for giving Sirius a hearty high-five, before concentrating on the story again.

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak.**

"That shouldn't make him any less sorry." Sirius scowled. The man reminded him of a muggle version of his parents. Teddy, getting tired of the continuous interruptions again, silenced Sirius too, who scowled and pouted but couldn't get him to change it back. Remus reached over to give his son a high-five.

**He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

There was a split second of silence, then Pettigrew squealed. James and Sirius got up off their sofa and began to do an enthusiastic (but completely silent) victory dance around the room. Remus however, saw that none of the future people looked at all happy and narrowed his eyes, deciding to save his celebrating until he had some solid facts. As for the people from the future, they were marvelling at the irony that Wormtail seemed so joyous about it, when in fact, it was his fault that Voldemort came back to life.

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off. **

James and Sirius looked like they would have been laughing, if they could have. Everything suddenly seemed five times funnier now that the threat of Voldemort was no longer there. Remus narrowed his eyes at the looks on the other people's faces. Lily looked like she was about to cry. Albus was staring at his grandfather, a terrible sadness in his eyes. Rose was staring at the two who were silently laughing in the sofa, looking stricken. Even James looked solemn. His eyes were oddly glazed as he put a comforting arm around his sister. The werewolf snuck a quick glance at his son out if the corner of his eye. The man looked extremely depressed. His eyes were turned toward the floor, and even the ends of his electric blue hair seemed to wilt with sadness. Remus gulped, sensing trouble on the horizon.

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he'd been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

At this last statement, Sirius stopped miming things at James (they had long ago developed there own secret sign language that was now paying off) and stared at the book in horror. How could anyone not approve of imagination? He suddenly felt that Harry was very lucky the Dursleys had never met him.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had those same markings around its eyes.**

At that, James jumped, and mimed something at Sirius. "McGonagall?" Sirius nodded. James grinned. "Dursley is so dead."

"**Shoo!" said Mr Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

James and Sirius grinned at each other and looked like they were trying to chuckle. Al, still staring at his father, looked like he wanted to put his hand through a wall. It wasn't fair, what was going to happen! Someone this normal, and happy, and vibrantly full of life shouldn't die! It wasn't right!

**Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

James rolled his eyes. "Coward." His expression clearly said. Wormtail snickered.

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (Shan't!).**

"Lovely." Remus said.

**Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news.**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin.**

"Do you think he knows?" Remus said speculatively at that, eliciting shrugs and thoughtful looks from everyone.

"**Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman,**

Sirius jumped. Hadn't his cousin Andromeda just married a muggle-born called Ted? Hmm. It was a possibility…

"**I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

At that last sentence, Sirius nudged James and wiggled his eyebrows, looking like he was trying to snigger. James rolled his eyes and shot him a look that said clearly "Get you head out of the gutter." Sirius sighed.

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

Remus began to listen intently at the mention of his friend. He had a bad feeling about this.

**Mrs Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"_**So?**_**" snapped Mrs Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… **_**her lot**_**."**

"Her lot?" Said Peter, looking insulted. "What are we, animals?" The rest of the Marauders nodded along vigorously, and the future kids marvelled at the camaraderie between the four, particularly where the traitor was concerned.

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter". He decided he didn't dare.**

James flashed them his "Coward." Look again, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Lovely marital dynamic they have there." He said sarcastically, trying to edge out the worry in the back of his head that said the Potters had way more to do with what was going than any of them thought… and not in a good way.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard wasn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Yeah?" Said Peter, glaring at the book. "Well, Dudley is a nasty _un_common name if you ask _me_!" James shot him an appreciative look, to which he grinned.

The future children looked on in disgust. Albus shuddered, imagining the look on his father's face if he could see the rat-man sticking up for him. It wasn't pretty.

"**Oh, yes," said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

"And he still doesn't say anything?" Remus asked, exasperated. "You're right James, he really is a coward."

James grinned at him in a way that said, "I'm always right." Remus rolled his eyes. He briefly noticed that James Jr was staring at his grandfather with an odd sense of loss.

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things?**

"You don't approve of imagination." Remus replied, and Peter snickered.

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… If it got out that he was related to a pair of – **

James bared his teeth, looking like he wanted to growl. Peter decided to do it for him.

**Well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursley's got into bed.**

"Ew!" Sirius signed to James, screwing his face up in horror, "Do _not_ want to know what goes on in there!" James sniggered silently, ignoring Remus's disapproving looks.

**Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were**_** involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind…**

"Their kind!" Remus scoffed, trying to lighten the mood (James was glaring at the book so hard that he was surprised it wasn't burning before his scornful gaze) "You'd think we were a whole different species, the way he talks about us!"

**He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect **_**them**_**…**

**How very wrong he was.**

Remus didn't like the sound of that one bit.

Silently, so that no one would hear him, Teddy removed the silencing spell from James and Sirius. They had the right to be able to talk when they found out about James and Lily's death.

**Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness.**

James and Sirius, neither of whom were aware that the spell had been removed, sent knowing looks at each other.

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead.**

_What's she waiting for?_ Thought Remus, who, like Sirius and James, had come to the conclusion that McGonagall and the cat were one and the same.

**In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.**

Remus grinned. He was starting to get a hunch about who this man was. His grin suddenly froze on his face. What did this mean? Why was Dumbledore popping up on pretty much the Dursley's doorstep?

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

James and Sirius grinned, catching on, "Dumbledore!" They both yelled, then turned to grin at each other in astonishment.

"You can speak!" Said James.

"So can you!" Said Sirius.

They looked at each other. "Whoooo!"

Remus sighed, and leaned over to talk to Teddy. "You see what I have to put up with?" Teddy grinned, eyes sparkling. He'd just shared a joke with his father! This was more than he'd ever dreamed about.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

James grinned, "No, really?" He said, making the most of his returned voice.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"Just didn't care, more like." James grinned.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realise that he was being watched, because he looked up at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.**

Remus didn't like to think what it meant that James didn't have to ask what a cigarette lighter was.

**He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Cool!" Said James and Sirius at the same time.

**He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only light left in the whole street were the two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"That's odd." Said Peter, who seemed to be the only person who had not caught on. The others rolled their eyes.

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"I knew it!" Yelled Sirius and James at once, while Remus just smiled.

"It's Minnie!" Sirius cried, grinning widely. The kids from the future raised their eyebrows but decided to let it pass. In the brief time they'd been in the past, they'd already decided that Sirius was mad.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, and emerald one.**

At this, James looked over at the picture on the wall, staring into Lily's eyes as he remembered her for the first time. The picture winked at him, and he grinned back, in a somewhat troubled manner, wondering who the person was that had taken Lily's place in his heart. He frowned. Whoever it was, he already didn't like the sound of her. If she wasn't Lily, then he wasn't interested.

**Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

James and Sirius exchanged looks at this. "We've never seen Minnie look distinctly ruffled." Sirius said, looking like he was missing out of something wonderful.

"How can Dumbledore do it when we can't?" James said, expression equal to Sirius's. Remus snorted. Idiot friends.

"**How did you know it was me?" She asked.**

Sirius snorted. "Well, it was fairly obvious."

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

Sirius gasped. "How come when I call her 'my dear' she gives me detention, but when Dumbledore says it she doesn't do anything?"

For a moment, James looked insulted, then he gasped. "You don't think there's something going on their do you Pads?" He asked, grinning.

Sirius chuckled. "It's a possibility." He said. He turned to the other two Marauders.

Remus sighed. "Mr Moony presents the idea that Mr Padfoot is _barking up the wrong tree_." He smirked. "And would like to add that Mr Flitwick would be a more likely source of the Mr Dumbledore's infatuation."

James snorted at the implications, and quickly added his input. "Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony and would like to suggest the furthering of investigations."

Sirius grinned. "Mr Padfoot would like to register his satisfaction with conclusions drawn up so far."

They turned to Peter, who grinned, "Mr Wormtail bids his companions goodbye, and adds that he agrees wholeheartedly with suggested proceedings.

"Awesome." Said Sirius, grinning at the other three and ignoring the looks they were all receiving from their future family. "Let the reading commence."

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"That reminds me!" Said Sirius, grinning broadly, "We should celebrate too, when this chapter's done!"

"Yeah!" James nodded along excitedly. But there enthusiasm was quickly put to an end.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Said Albus slowly, not meeting his grandfather's eyes.

"Why not?" James asked, looking put out. Albus exchanged a quick look with his older brother (one that Remus did not miss) before turning back to looking at the patch of wall over James's shoulder.

"You'll see." He said simply, some kind of emotion bubbling under the surface of his voice. Remus gulped. Something told him that that didn't bode well.

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd have been a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"Dedalus Diggle?" James grinned reminiscently. "I remember him!"

"Sirius's face scrunched as he tried to remember. "Wasn't he that Hufflepuff bloke who set off those fireworks in the Great Hall on his last day?"

"That's the one." James grinned, thinking of the over-excitable, incredibly cheerful Diggle. "I liked him."

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've have precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Eleven years?" James said, awestruck. "Blimey, that long?"

"**I know that," Said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no excuse to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours."**

Remus straightened up. Now this was the bit he'd been waiting to hear about.

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something,**

Remus stared intently at the book, hoping that too, though half-afraid of what he might hear.

**But he didn't, so she went on: "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.**

Sirius and James stared at the book in disgust. "She says 'You-Know-Who'?" He asked, revolted. "My respect for her has just entirely evaporated."

James nodded fiercely. "Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself." He recited, shaking his head at his second-favourite teacher (Dumbledore holding the top spot at number one or course). "Surely she knows that by now?"

**I suppose he really **_**has**_** gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?"**

James chuckled. Dumbledore and his sweets.

"**A **_**what**_**?"**

Again, James chuckled, remembering the time he'd asked Professor Dumbledore that very same question.

"**A sherbet lemon. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

_Doesn't change much, does he?_ James thought to himself, grinning.

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for sherbet lemons.**

"She'll regret it." James sighed. "They're delicious, they are." Sirius chuckled, and he and Sirius exchanged looks, as though remembering something that happened long ago.

Albus felt a sharp bolt of pain shoot through his stomach. He didn't know why, but seeing his grandfather and his best friend sharing private jokes somehow made the two seem more real. After reading the books, he and his siblings had become much more attached to the two than ever before. It caused him physical pain to know that in a few years, they wouldn't be able to share private jokes ever again.

_But no,_ he thought, shaking the thoughts from his head, _we're here to change that! And damn it, we will!_ And he turned back to Rose, who was reading again, determination glinting in his zealous green eyes.

"**As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has**_** gone-"**

Once again, James and Sirius grimaced at the use of the name "You-Know-Who".

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name – **_**Voldemort**_**."**

"Exactly!" Sirius and James said passionately. James from the future looked proudly at his grandfather, glad he had more backbone than most.

**Professor McGonagall flinched,**

James Sr sighed.

**But Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who'. I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

"Hear, hear!" Cheered Sirius heartily.

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall,**

"And you shouldn't either Minniekins!" Sirius cried. "What?" He said, catching the looks coming his way.

"Minniekins?" Said Remus. "Come on Padfoot, that's just a whole new level of weird!" Peter nodded fervently, and even James didn't jump to his defence. Sirius pouted.

**Sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-Who – oh, all right, **_**Voldemort**_** – **

"Whoooo!" James cried, and the whole room began to applaud.

"That's right Minnie, face your fears, my dear!" James chuckled and shook his head at Sirius's over-enthusiastic response.

**Was frightened of."**

"**You flatter me," Said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only 'cause you're too … good to use them!" James told the book ardently.

"Um… James does know he's talking to a book, right?" Sirius asked Moony, looking worried.

"Oh, leave him to his hero worship." Moony smiled. "I think it's nice."

"**Only because you're too – well – **_**noble**_** to use them."**

James stared at the book as Rose kept reading. Sirius chuckled.

"Alright, Prongs!" He laughed, clapping his friend on the back. "You got Minnie's response almost spot on!"

James blushed, but didn't look altogether displeased.

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

Chuckles were heard all round the room at this, especially from James, who shook his head, grinning at his hero's… _quirkiness_.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing compared to the **_**rumours**_** that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Once again, Remus's interest peaked. He stared intently at Rose as she read the book. He could sense an odd vibe in the room from the future people and he didn't like it.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was clear that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer.**

James frowned at that. It sounded like Dumbledore was stalling. Now, he didn't know what that meant, but he was sure it couldn't be good.

"**What they're **_**saying**_**," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up at Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.**

Rose did her best to ignore the heavy silence that had filled the room, and read the next bit as quickly as possible, as thought that would make the pain more bearable.

**The rumour is that Lily and James Potter**

James took in a quick intake of breath, but was much too tense to do much else. In any other situation he would've been celebrating. But now… Lily and James Potter _what_?

**Are – are – that they're – **_**dead**_**."**

The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Then –

"No!" Sirius gasped, and suddenly, the silence was gone. Wormtail was shaking and a strange squeaking noise was emitting from his mouth as he cried. Remus was frozen where he sat, shoulders tense and breath stuck in his through. Sirius was staring at James, tears blurring his vision as he chanted "No, no, no, no!" Under his breath. James was frozen, staring straight ahead and letting his friend's reactions roll over him. He felt his own tears glaze his eyes, but they weren't for him. They were for her – Lily. And-

"Harry?" He said, staring up at the future children beseechingly. The rational side of his mind knew that the boy was alright, that he'd lived a long life, married and reproduced. But a kind of blank denial was forming a block to these happy thoughts. It was possible. If Voldemort wanted Harry dead, then Harry was dead. Right?

In answer to James question, Rose just kept reading.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"She really cares." Said Remus softly, letting his own tears fall without shame.

James forced out a watery smile. "It's all Lily of course." He said softly, letting out a chuckle. Beside him, Sirius was still crying. He put a hand on his friends arm, as if to reassure him that he was still there, before motioning for Rose to continue.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son,**

"No!"

**Harry.**

"If that snake faced bastard has harmed my child I will personally rip out his heart and smear if across my bedroom wall!" James snarled.

**But – he couldn't.**

James blinked.

**He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke – and that's why he's gone.**

James stared at the book, eyes wide as galleons, and held his breath.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"Whoooo!" James yelled, punching the air with his fist, all sadness suddenly gone. Everyone stared at him. "My son defeated the Dark Lord! Yes! This proves that only good things can come of me and Lily reproducing! Whoooo!"

As one, everyone blinked.

"**It's – it'd **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"Because he inherited my super awesomeness!" James crowed, but then stopped when he caught sight of the poster on the wall, and remembered Lily. He suddenly felt cold all over.

"We have to show this to Lily," He said.

Remus nodded. "After this chapter. She can read it to catch up, then she can join our group reading." Liking this idea, James nodded, but he still felt awful. He wanted – no, he _needed_ – Lily there now. He needed to see her beautiful face, needed to look into her bright green eyes, needed to touch her soft, pale skin. He just needed to know she was alright. His right leg began to jiggle, something it had a tendency to do when he was anxious. Every breath he breathed out, every heartbeat that pounded inside of him, had a name.

_Lily. Lily. Lily. Lily._

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it.**

James smiled sadly at the mention of the sniff. It was nice to know that his hero cared. He just wished it didn't have to be under those circumstances.

**It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands and no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

"What's odd about that?" Peter asked half-heartedly, but nobody could bring themselves to answer the question. They just weren't in the mood.

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why**_** you're here of all places?"**

"Yes," said Remus, who'd been wondering about that too. "I'd like to know that myself." He had a sneaking suspicion though, and it wasn't good. The book _had_ said that the Dursley's were Harry's family. Maybe… But no, Dumbledore wouldn't do that. Would he?

"**I've come to take Harry to his aunt and uncle.**

"No!" Remus shouted, making everyone jump. "What's Dumbledore _doing_? Is he _insane_?"

"Moony, what-?" James began, but then he broke off, eyes widening and flashing with hazel-coloured anger. "No way in _hell_!" He yelled, glaring at the book as though hoping Dumbledore could hear him. "Don't even think about it Dumby!" He roared.

Rose looked quite honestly scared, and she read on in a small voice.

**They're the only family he has left now."**

There was another roar as Sirius caught on, and Rose began to trip and stumble over her words as she read.

"**You don't mean – you **_**can't**_** mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

Wormtail gasped and swore loudly, while James and Sirius shouted simultaneously, "You tell him Minnie!"

"**Dumbledore – you can't. ****I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

James growled loudly.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter?" Repeated Remus faintly, staring at the book as though he could see Dumbledore through it, "He thinks he can explain all this in a letter?"

No one replied.

"**A letter?" repeated McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

No one commented on how similar Moony's words were to McGonagall's. They didn't have the heart.

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!"**

"**Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he can't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"It doesn't matter," said James, frowning, "He'll probably get all that big-headed stuff from me anyway." He sounded honestly upset.

Rose decided it was probably best just to read on, since no one seemed to have anything to say to that.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes – yes, you're right, of course. But how is he getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it – **_**wise**_** – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life." All the Marauder's said at once, both solemn and perfectly honest. Rose let out a weak chuckle. The four boys looked at her, and she read on as an explanation.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

Even James managed a small chuckle at that.

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to – what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool!" James said.

"I want one!" Said Sirius at the same time, looking enviously at the book. James grinned at him.

"I'll get you one for Christmas

"Yay!" Sirius yelled, pulling him into a brotherly hug. "I knew there was a reason I like you!" James chuckled.

"If that was the only reason you liked me Sirius, I think we have some serious friendship issues."

Sirius chuckled and released James from his hug as Rose kept reading.

**If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild**_** – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.**

"Whoooo! Go Hagrid!" James and Sirius yelled.

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Whoooo! Go Harry!" Sirius yelled, but James was silent. He was looking eagerly at the book, leg jumping at twice the speed as before as he stared intently. It was easy to see the love he had for the boy already, before he'd even met him.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get the motorbike?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black leant it me.**

"Yes!" Sirius yelled, punching the air with his fist. "Woohoo!" He picked James up from his spot on the sofa and spun him round in the air, much like you see couples doing in the movies who on the dramatic run up to each other at the airport. James chuckled but pushed him off, deciding it had gone far enough. He had the distinct impression that some of his grandchildren were beginning to doubt his sexuality.

"You kept your promise then?" Sirius grinned. The bike was his. _His._

"When have I ever broken a promise?" James grinned back, but turned back to Rose, gesturing for her to continue reading. He wanted to hear about his son.

**I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles starting swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

James's face was grave and solemn at the first bit, but his expression got softer and softer as Hagrid kept speaking, and once he was done, a gentle smile was on his face.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep.**

James let out a soft gasp. _Harry._

**Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously-shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

James smiled, a tender look in his eyes, but the expression hardened at the mention of the cut. _Voldemort had better hope we never come face to face! _He thought savagely. _How dare he mutilate my child?_

Next to him on the sofa, Sirius flinched. The look on his best friend's face was murderous.

"**Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar for ever."**

James growled.

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

James nodded vigorously.

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't.**

James glared at the book. The next time he saw Dumbledore, the old man was going to have hell to pay…

**Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well – give him here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

"Run Harry, run!" Sirius whispered, and James couldn't help the chuckle that slipped from between his clenched teeth.

"**Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.**

James smiled softly.

**He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

James's smile faltered. Maybe not…

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"**Shhh!" hissed McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it – Lily an' James dead – an' poor Harry off to live with Muggles-"**

James smiled again. Hagrid really was the best person he knew. A little rough and over-enthusiastic at times, but he had a heart of gold.

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulder's shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

"Lovely." Remus muttered half heartedly.

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer, He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.**

"He just left him there? On the doorstep?" James whispered, eyes narrowed to slits. "The bloody doorstep? Oh, I'm going to _kill_ Dumbledore the next time I see him!" He made a loud growling sound, and turned back to Rose who, it appeared, hadn't finished.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, nor knowing he was special,**

"Of course he's special," James whispered to himself, emotions he'd never felt before flooding through him and over-whelming him. No one heard him.

**Not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles,**

James scowled.

**Nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…**

James's scowl deepened, and beside him, Sirius growled.

"Stupid prat." He grumbled.

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!"**

Remus blinked as Rose came to the end of the reading. Everyone looked so over-whelmed. James was staring blankly at the opposite wall, looking proud, happy, angry, and sad all at once. Sirius, beside him, looked crazed.

"People were celebrating?" He growled dangerously. "You were dead and your son was being carted off to live with those brats and people were _celebrating_?" An angry shiver passed over his face.

James blinked, realizing something. "We didn't even get to see Voldemort's end," he said blankly, "Lily and me, we were killed just before he was destroyed. How much does that suck?" His friends stared at him, clearly at a loss for what to say, before Al cleared his throat.

"Um… should we go find Lily?" He asked and the other's (James in particular) nodded fervently. "Well, let's go." They all stood up and left the Room of Requirement, feeling as though the weight of the world rested upon their shoulders.

**Thanks for reading! You have **_**no idea**_** how long that took to write! Unless you've written one of these fics before and are currently thinking I'm a complete wuss for complaining about it. But, bloody ow! My back's sore from hunching over my computer, and my chin hurts (for some other, completely unrelated reason, but I just thought I'd throw it in there! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading, and did I mention that I love reviews? *Hint hint***

**Your ****favourite**** fanfictioner, rawr52 :)**


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**A/N: Thanks quickly to the people who have reviewed this fic so far. Thanks especially to LilyLavender14, bonifaco16 and BeckyBoo12221 for reviewing the last chapter. Enjoy!**

**2. The Vanishing Glass**

"WHAT?" James jolted upright in bed. It was about five in the morning, judging by the pale rays of light seeping in through the scarlet curtain, and he hadn't expected to be woken for another few hours. Rubbing his eyes and trying not to fall asleep where he stood, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, and made for the door, the other Marauders and their dorm-mate Frank on his heel. He'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Lily?" He croaked, as he made his way down the stairs and into the Gryffindor common room, where the fiery red head was pacing, looking furious. "What are you doing? It's early!"

"He left him on the doorstep?" The girl growled, bright green eyes flashing dangerously. "With my sister? On the _doorstep_?" James sighed. Oh. It all made sense now.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" He asked, ruffling his hair up at the back. His eyes were fixed on the staircase behind Lily, to the girls dormitories. It appeared that Lily's outburst had attracted quite a crowd.

"No!" Lily snapped, turning her anger on him. "We're going to talk about it now! In fact, get your little friends; we're going to the Room of Requirement to do some more reading!"

"But-"

"Don't you dare try and fight me on this James!" She said dangerously, eyes glinting. "Come on, let's go!" And she dragged him through the portrait hole and out of the common room by the collar of his crimson pajamas, barely leaving him time to call over his shoulder at his friends to follow him.

"You know, Lily," he said once he was released from her grasp, massaging his neck. "I'm beginning to regret telling you about this book."

"Yes, well I'm beginning to regret your existence, but you don't hear me complaining do you?"

James blinked. "Someone's snarky this morning."

Lily growled threateningly, "Don't you dare irritate me right now James, or you'll wish you'd never been born!" James gulped, and decided to do the wise thing –shut up. Lily threw him a sharp look. "Why are you being so calm?" He asked, annoyed, "Why aren't you being all angry and indignant too?"

James let out a long yawn, "Too early." He grunted.

Lily scowled. "Of course."

When they paced past the wall on the seventh floor and stepped into the Room of Requirement, it was to find the future children all asleep, the sounds of soft snoring and deep breathing drifting through the air. A strangely tender look passed over Lily's face as she caught sight of a tuft of flaming red hair poking out the top of a blanket on one of the beds (which had popped out of nowhere once they were needed). She made her way over to the girl and gave her head a gentle stroke. She turned to the others.

"Let's not wake them," she said in a low voice, "They already know what happens. "Let's just read by ourselves." James, who also was staring down at the little girl, nodded.

And so, the four Marauders plus Lily, settled into the chairs from the previous night (James sharing a sofa with Sirius, Lily with Remus, and Peter once again alone).

"I'll read," said Lily, and opened the book to the appropriate page.

**Chapter Two, **she read, **The Vanishing Glass.**

James grinned. This chapter smelled of accidental magic.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, **(Lily growled) **But Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bobble hats – **

"Charming," Lily muttered, scowling at the book.

**But Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blonde boy riding his first bicycle,**

"And it didn't break from his weight?" Sirius gasped, dragging a tired chuckle out of James, who was holding his eyes open with his fingers in an effort to stay awake.

**On a roundabout at the fair,**

"Same question."

**Playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign that another boy lived in the house too.**

"Maybe one of us took him," said Sirius hopefully, "Me or Remus or Pete." But Lily shook her head grimly, as she read the next sentence.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there,**

"Damn!" Said Sirius. Lily quickly checked to see his cursing hadn't woken anyone up, before turning to him with a reproachful look and gesturing for him to be quiet.

**Asleep at the moment, but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.**

Lily shuddered. "Horrible thing to wake up to."

"**Up! Get up! Now!"**

"Lovely Tuney," Lily scowled, narrowing her eyes at the book.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it.**

"IT WASN'T A DREAM HARRY!" Sirius yelled at the book, so loudly that James jumped violently and covered his ears with his hands, and Lily turned to check on the kids again. "IT WAS REAL!"

"Padfoot!" James hissed, massaging his head. "What's with the shouting?"

"It was real!" Sirius said excitedly, but lowered his voice as a sharp look from Lily.

"Well, we know that, don't we?" James said, glaring. It appeared that Sirius's shouted had done what nothing else could do, and had woken him up. "You don't need to shout!"

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes as Sirius began to pout and complain. Ignoring this, she turned back to the book.

**He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Yes, we know it wasn't a dream Sirius!" said James, clapping a hand over Sirius's mouth and sighing. He had to deal with this kind of thing _way_ too much for his liking.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on,**

"Lovely person, you're sister," James said dryly, but flinched at the look Lily shot him.

"What was that James?" she said.

James gulped, "Nothing, nothing…"

**I want you to look after the bacon.**

"She's making him cook?" Lily growled, forgetting what she's just told James off for doing. James decided not to point the hypocrisy out to her however. Lily could be scary when she was mad.

**And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Do it yourself if you care about it so much," James grumbled while Sirius scowled. Lily blinked, confused. Since when had those two ever cared about a person?

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"He didn't say anything horse-face!" said Peter, scowling. The other Marauders all smirked at his remark and not even Lily could find it in herself to tell him off. It was true after all.

"**Nothing, nothing..."**

James blinked. Now that was just odd…

**Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider of one of them,**

James grimaced. _Urgh! Spiders..._

**Put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,**

"So?" James said, bewildered.

**And that was where he slept.**

"He WHAT?" James roared shooting to his feet and ignoring the grumbles of the people he'd woken. "The cupboard under – What d'you mean the cupboard under the stairs?" He stared at Lily through burning, furious eyes, as though it was somehow her fault that her sister had locked his son in a small, stuffy cupboard. Beside him, Sirius had jumped up as well, and was glowering around the room, looking ready to kill. "Wuzzgoinon?" James heard from one of the beds, but disregarded it completely, seething.

"He did _not_ just say the cupboard under the stairs!" He growled loudly and, Lily had to admit, quite frighteningly. "Dursley! I swear when I get my hands on you you'll wish you were never born! I-"

"James," Lily said quietly, standing up from her own seat next to Remus who was glaring murderously at the book in Lily's arms and looking quite like he'd like to rip it apart. Lily shivered. Who knew he could look so honestly scary? "James," she said again, and she carefully approached the boy. She laid a hesitant hand on his arm, and tried not to wince as he started from the contact. She tried very hard not to notice his bulging muscles, which were twitching and flexing as he clenched and unclenched his fists, hazel eyes burning with rage. He looked down at her for a moment, honestly startled that she was standing so close – he hadn't noticed her stand up – and just looked at her for a short moment, before nodding reluctantly, and settling into his sofa, trying hard not to crack his knuckles threateningly.

**When he was dressed he went down to the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all of Dudley's birthday presents.**

James growled, thinking that if his son got a single present less than his cousin, he might just punch something. He noticed a conveniently placed punch bag hanging in an obscure corner of the room and blinked. Had that been there all along?

**It looked as though Dudley had got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

Lily looked at James expectantly, almost as if waiting for him to interrupt and ask what these things were, but he was too furious to give it any thought. To her bemusement, it was Sirius who spoke.

"What does _he_ need a racing bike for? The fat lump will squash it the first time he sits on it." This was said with such bitterness and hostility that Lily was extremely startled. She still wasn't used to this whole Potter-and-Black-caring-about-people thing. She entertained for a few moments, the idea that she was dreaming, but she dismissed that thought almost at once. Why would she dream about Potter? She imagined his reaction if he ever heard that such a thing had occurred. She shuddered. It hardly bared thinking about.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry,**

"Exactly Harry!" Sirius exclaimed emphatically.

**As Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – **

"See?" Sirius cried, practically glowing, "The Prongslet thinks like me!"

Lily groaned, "We're all doomed!"

**Unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

_And if that person's Harry…_ James thought. He might be needing that punch-bag earlier than he'd thought.

**Dudley's favourite punch-bag was Harry,**

James growled and got to his feet. He stalked past Lily and Remus, ignoring the worried looks on their faces, past the children just getting up from their beds, and over to the punch-bag. "Take. That. You. Bullying. Toe-rag. Take. That." He timed each word with a hearty punch, then turned and walked back to the sofa, sitting back down and turning expectantly to Lily as though this were the most normal thing in the world. Lily shook her head. Did James Potter seriously just call someone else a bullying toe-rag? Oh, the irony…

**But he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"Sounds like you James," Sirius grinned in an effort to break the tension, "He's going to be a great Quidditch player." It worked.

"Yeah he is!" James yelled triumphantly, punching the air with his fist, "Way to go Harry!"

Sirius grinned.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard,**

_All my hard work! _Sirius thought hopelessly, as James's face darkened again, _Stupid Muggles!_

**But Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"Nope, sorry kid," Sirius grinned. There was still hope! "That's just the Potter genes. James was a scrawny git too when I first met him." And he ducked to avoid a punch being directed at him by his so-called "best friend".

"Trust me Black," James growled, "If you don't mysteriously shut up in the next two seconds, you're going on my black list."

Sirius gulped, and nodded mutely. James sighed and turned away. "Indecently," Sirius began, cowering when James turned to look at him, "who's actually on your black list?"

James grinned and tapped the side of his nose. "Let's just say that a certain couple of Muggles and their spoilt brat of a son are going to be getting a kick up the arse if they don't change their act soon."

**He looked even smaller than he actually was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's**

James sighed but seemed to have calmed down, if only a little.

**And Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

Remus snorted. "Fat ba-"

"Remus!" Lily cut him off, looking shocked.

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes.**

Lily felt a soft smile pass over her face and looked over at James, thoroughly expecting to see him indifferent. To her surprise however, he was smiling too, and if she hadn't known better she would have sworn that his eyes were slightly glazed. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Could it be possible that Potter of all people, cared more about her baby than she did?

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**

The smiled slid from James's face as quickly as it had come, and his eyes took on a hard, burning look. Lily shuddered. She would hate to be in the Dursley's shoes when James dealt with them.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"He liked that?" interrupted Al, who had slunk over in his pajamas to join the readers. It was fascinating being in the mind of his 11 year old father. "He always said he hated it."

Lily Jr nodded, looking wise. "He probably only started hating it when he found out the significance of it." She said knowledgably, and Al dipped his head in recognition.

**He had had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents died,"**

"WHAT?" Lily sighed as James once again jumped to his feet. She felt a wave of chagrin run through her, as she watched Black's attempts to calm her future husband down, and it wasn't about the lying. Did James care more about her future son than she did?

**She had said. "And don't ask questions."**

_**Don't ask questions**_** – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

James scowled but didn't interrupt. It seemed Sirius had done a good job calming him down.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

James snorted. "Don't bother, it won't work," he said, running his hands through his own untamable mess of hair. Lily scowled.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.**

"Yup," James sighed, causing the other Marauder's to snigger. They exchanged glances, clearly sharing some happy memory. Lily scowled again, not buying James's chagrin for a second.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blonde hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

"Beautiful image," Remus smirked.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – **

Snorts were heard all round.

**Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

There was a moment of silence, then – "Ha!" Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh, and raucous laughter burst out through the room. "Prongs mate," Sirius grinned when the laughter had died down, "I worship your son." And, still chortling, he turned back to Lily, waiting for her to continue the reading.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.**

James snorted.

**His face fell.**

"Of course it did."

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"**Darling, you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

"**Alright then, thirty-seven then,"**

"Well done, you can count," said Sirius snarklily.

**Said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly, "And we'll by you another **_**two**_** presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? **_**Two**_** more presents. Is that all right?"**

Lily blinked. That was no way to raise a child!

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.**

James snorted.

**Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"Okay, I take that back," said Sirius, retracting his earlier statement, and looking disgusted.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

James looked nauseated. "Lily, your sister seriously needs some backbone.

It was a fair point, and coming from anyone else Lily would have heartily agreed, but she just glared at James and said, "Shut up Potter. She's got a hundred times more backbone than you." And she read on quickly before he could reply.

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

Again, James looked sickened but decided, very wisely in Lily's opinion, not to say anything.

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

This time, James wasn't able to contain himself. "Of course Dudley would get rewarded for being a spoilt prat while Harry gets jammed in a cupboard for being decent. Lily couldn't bring herself to glare.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a cine-camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video recorder.**

Peter looked like he'd never had more questions in his life, but restrained himself, having noticed the hostile looks the future children were directing at him with some confusion.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"Two Galleons it has something to do with Harry," James announced to the room.

"I don't think anyone's going to take that bet, Prongs," Remus grinned, causing James to pout childishly.

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction."**

Lily scowled. "He's not an animal Petunia!" She scolded, glaring at the book.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

Sirius choked. "Cats!" He snarled, looking crazed. "I _hate _cats!" James sniggered.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.**

"It's not his fault!" James and Lily cried in unison.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.**

"Harry!" Lily chided half-heatedly while Sirius nodded vehemently along with Harry's train of thought.

"Stupid cats," he muttered.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"And I'm sure he's just _so_ fond of her," James spat. Lily stared at him, shocked by the venom in his voice.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

James growled. Again, Lily stared. Why did he seem to care so much more than she did? It wasn't right!

"**What about what's-her-name, your friends – Yvonne?"**

"**On holiday in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"Not going to happen," Remus sighed, at the same time that Sirius smirked, saying, "Nice try kiddo."

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"**And come back to find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry,**

Remus snorted. "If you're anything like James, you will."

Lily scowled. "And if he's anything like me, he won't!" she said hotly. She didn't like the thought of her son being like Potter. James looked crestfallen.

**But they weren't listening.**

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car …"**

"He's not a dog Petunia!" Lily said crossly.

"Hey!" snapped Sirius, "I'll have you know that dogs are very _beautiful_ and _intelligent_ animals, who deserve to be treated with _respect_!" For some reason, Lily pondered, it seemed like he wasn't talking only to her as he said this, as he kept shooting pointed glares at his three friends, who were sniggering behind their hands. None of them noticed the amused looks the future children shared.

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone …"**

James scowled.

**Dudley began to cry loudly.**

"What a baby!" Sirius said.

**In fact, he wasn't really crying, it had been years since he'd really cried,**

"Oh."

**But he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"What an arse!" Sirius scowled.

"**Dinky-"**

Lily broke off, making an odd choking nose, before she broke into a peal of laughter. Sirius blinked. While his friends liked her, and he'd tried to be supportive, Lily had always come off to him as a little prude. He'd never seen her laugh. All was explained though, as she gasped out the line.

"**Duddydums, don't cry,**

Her laughter was suddenly echoed all over the room. Remus doubled up, James took off his glasses to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes, Peter had fallen off his chair and was rolling around on the floor, and Sirius was snorting uncontrollably.

"Dinky – Duddydums!" the latter choked out, as his face grew steadily redder. It was a while before Lily had collected herself enough to read again.

**Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"**I … don't … want … him … t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

James swore and made a rude hand gesture at the book.

**Just then, the doorbell rang – "Oh, Good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically – **

"Drama queen," Lily snorted.

**And a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.**

"Hey!" cried Peter, looking mortally offended, "Don't compare a rat to the likes of him! I'm ten times the person he is!"

The Marauders nodded fervently, but Lily, who couldn't see the connection between the two pronouncements, merely looked confused.

Albus sighed as he watched Sirius nodding passionately along with the rest. _Oh, the irony._

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.**

"Well, he sounds great," James said dryly. Lily bit back a retort, finding no reason to fight Potter on this.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Of course," James said savagely.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" James sighed, looking compassionately at the book as though he could see Harry through it. That scared Lily more than anything. Why hadn't she been the one to say that? It really did seem like Harry meant more to James than he did to her. What did that say about her parenting skills?

"**I'm warning you," he said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's,**

"Ew!" Sirius squealed in a very girl-like fashion, and scooted back in the couch as though Uncle Vernon were talking to him and not Harry. Lily snorted, the amusement getting to her before she could stop it. Sirius looked stunned.

"**I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"And I'm warning you Dursley," James growled, "You lay so much as a finger on my son and you won't live to _see_ Christmas." Lily gulped. Somehow, she didn't doubt it.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honest …"**

"Urgh, don't go saying that Harry!" said Remus sadly, shaking his head. "You've gone and jinxed it," he shook his head again disappointedly, as though saddened by Harry's knowledge about the way of the world. Peter smirked.

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him.**

"Of course he didn't," James sighed.

**No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry**

"Yay, accidental magic!" crowed Sirius, bouncing up and down on the sofa childishly. His namesake sniggered.

**And it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"Because you did, Harry!" Sirius yelled excitedly. Remus sighed and face-palmed, much to the amusement of Lily Jr and Rose.

Lily Sr however, sighed sadly, "Oh Tuney," she whispered, "It's accidental magic, you know it is! Why punish him for it?" She stared beseechingly at the book as though expecting an answer, then, realizing she wasn't likely to get one, continued reading.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barber's looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe, which she had left "to hide that horrible scar".**

James scowled and made a face at the book, a movement, oddly enough, shadowed by Lily.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who had spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and sellotaped glasses. **

"Stupid kids," James muttered.

**Next morning, however, he head got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

Lily frowned at the use of the word "sheared". What was he, a sheep?

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he **_**couldn't **_**explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Stupid Dursleys," James muttered.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles).**

Even Peter, who was sent the most _horrendous _jumpers from his mother for Christmas, cringed at that, shrinking into the couch as though afraid the jumper was going to leap out of the book and attack him. The future children snorted, watching Sirius, whose face was twisted into a disgusted grimace, and James, who was staring blankly at the opposite wall as though scarred just by hearing it. Lily tried very hard not to laugh.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it became, until finally it might have been able to fit a glove puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.**

The whole room let out a breath they hadn't realized they had been holding, and Sirius grinned, "Alright, mini-Prongs!" he said, punching the air with his fist, "Nice save!"

Remus rolled his eyes.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

Lily paused at that, looking thoughtful. Petunia must have realized that it was accidental magic – she was not, however much Lily liked to disagree, completely stupid. She couldn't help but wonder whether her sister had just decided to overlook it. Although why she would overlook that but not the hair thing, she had no idea. Maybe she just didn't want her dear husband to believe that she could hold so much as a shred of compassion for a _freak_. Yes, that was probably it. Lily sighed. _Oh, Tuney…_

**On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.**

"What?" Lily asked, looking annoyed. If her son turned out to be a rule-breaker like his father, she might just hit something.

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

The Marauders, including Remus who Lily shot a death glare (she'd always thought he was the good one!) burst into laughter, and Lily nodded thoughtfully. She guessed that was all right. She still didn't like it though.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school building. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed the wind must have caught him mid-jump.**

"Oh, come on, godson of mine!" Sirius exclaimed with an air of long suffering martyrdom, "Surely you could come up with something better than that!"

"Godson?" James asked, bemused, staring at Sirius.

"Well, of course," Sirius looked at him as though it were the most obvious thing in the world (which, in his mind, it was), "Who else would you pick?" His tone left no room for argument, and James sighed, accepting defeat. After all, he thought to himself sheepishly, it was perfectly true.

**But today, nothing was gong to go wrong.**

"What did I tell you about jinxing it?" Remus said, half sigh, half growl. Teddy raised his eyebrows at him, smirking.

**It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard or Mrs Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

Sirius chuckled. "I love the way your son thinks," he said, in reply to James's questioning look.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.**

"Wow, I think he likes you Harry," Sirius said dryly to the book.

"Noticed have you?" said Lily loftily.

**This morning, it was motorbikes.**

"What's wrong with motorbikes?" Sirius sniffed.

"… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorbike overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorbike," said Harry, remembering suddenly.**

"Oh no," Lily moaned.

"**It was flying."**

"Stupid, stupid!" she muttered.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a moustache,**

Sirius chuckled again, "Prongs mate, your son in a genius," he chortled appreciatively.

"**MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry, "It was only a dream."**

Lily sighed.

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, **(Lily scowled)** it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

James snorted angrily, "Doesn't even let my son dream," he muttered, "Stupid walrus!" Lily rolled her eyes and shot him a disapproving look.

**It was a very sunny day and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly.**

James, who had been scowling throughout the whole thing, looked slightly mollified.

**It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a large gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blonde.**

Sirius howled with laughter. "He's got your sense of humour James," he grinned, clapping his friend on the back.

Remus however, shook his head. "I think he's more like Lily," he said thoughtfully, "She's more sarcastic and, well, cruel."

Lily scowled, "Shut up, wolfy," she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth, "Okay, you may have a point."

James snorted.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored of the animals by lunch-time, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.**

James growled, but Lily merely said, "Good."

**They ate lunch in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"Uh-oh," said Remus, and in response to the questioning looks he received, expanded, "It all just seems a little too good to be true." And on that ominous note, he gestured for Lily to keep reading.

**Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

James blinked, and then let out a surprised laugh. "I think he inherited his pessimism from you, Moony," he grinned.

Lily sneered. "Both logic and biology lacking a little there Potter."

Confused, James tilted his head a little to the side, "What's biology?"

Lily growled.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.**

"Cool." Sirius crowed.

**Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.**

Sirius began to jump up and down in his seat, making Lily Jr snort.

**Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. **

Sirius leaned forward eagerly on his seat.

**It could have wrapped itself around Uncle Vernon**

"Whoa," he said, "That's big." Lily gave him a look before continuing.

'**s car**

"Oh."

**And crushed it into a dustbin - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

Sirius pouted.

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed up against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

Lily snorted at the mental image.

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned.**

"You're boring," James growled.

**He shuffled away.**

"Good, learn when you're not wanted," Sirius said viciously. Lily frowned. Having Potter love her child more than her was one thing, but Black?

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.**

Lily smiled. Her son was so thoughtful!

**It was worse than having Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

James frowned. His son was sympathising with a snake? He had a bad feeling about this.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

_**It winked.**_

"What?" said James quickly, exchanging worried glances with the rest of the Marauders, "Why would it do that?"

Sirius frowned. He had a hunch, but he wasn't going to be the one to say it.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked too.**

Sirius shot James a worried look. He was pretty sure he knew what that meant. But how?

**The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "**_**I get that all the time**_**."**

The future children were watching the faces of the adults intently, wanting to see their reactions when the truth sank in. The Potters frowned. James looked quite plainly terrified.

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"No way!" yelled James, leaping to his feet and staring at the book as though it had just announced the end of the world. "He's a parseltongue? No! No way!" he repeated. James Jr frowned.

"Why do you care?" he said quietly. He looked a little disappointed. "It doesn't change anything. Why do you care?" James's mouth opened and closed in very quick succession as he tried to find a valid answer. Albus frowned.

If this was how he took Harry being a parseltongue, how was he going to react when the Sorting Hat nearly put him in Slytherin? He was quite glad they had decided against taking their father into the past with them. He wouldn't have wanted to see this.

Lily, seeing that things were getting out of hand ploughed determinately on with the reading, and James Sr sunk slowly into his seat, red in the face. Sirius lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

James felt his palms begin to sweat.

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

_**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**_

James gulped.

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: **_**This specimen was bred in the zoo.**_** "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T **_**BELIEVE **_**WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.**

Sirius hissed. James Jr let out a little sigh of relief. At least _one _of his namesakes was able to get over his stupid prejudice. He shot a glance at James to see that he was looking pale and shook.

Sighing heavily, he turned back to his grandma, who he was pleased to see was taking it all in her stride. She kept reading.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened –**

"What?" asked Sirius eagerly, and James Sr turned to stare at him. How was he able to brush over the fact that his godson was a parseltongue so easily? Was he just over-reacting? He frowned as he let these thoughts speed around his brain. He was so _confused_.

**One second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"What?" Sirius repeated, leaning forwards in his seat.

**Harry sat up and gasped;**

Lily shot Sirius her most threatening death-glare as he opened his mouth to repeat his question yet again, and he quickly shut it, looking sheepish. Lily tried not to laugh. Lily Evans did not laugh at the antics of Sirius Black. It went against everything she stood for! That thought placed firmly in her head, she kept reading.

**The glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

Silence fell for 10 short seconds, before everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. "Brilliant Harry!" said James, who it seemed, has got over his shock. James Jr smiled.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Muggles," he said fondly, shaking his head.

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come … Thanksss, amigo."**

Sirius grinned widely, "Brilliant!" he laughed.

James blinked. _Okay, friendly snake._ He thought, non-plussed. _I guess that's alright._

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea while he apologised over an over again. **

"Do you think he knows?" said James thoughtfully. "I mean, he doesn't seem very shocked does he?" Lily nodded along, but then quickly stopped. She didn't agree with James Potter, ever. It just wasn't done.

**Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them all how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.**

"Idiots," Peter muttered.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"You prat!" Sirius yelled, while James looked livid.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry.**

"Of course he did," James hissed angrily, "Can't let the locals know he's abusing his nephew." He looked furious.

**He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"NO MEALS?" Sirius roared, looking as though Harry had been sentenced to death. Food was very important to him.

James growled angrily, "He locks my son in a bloody cupboard while he sits there drinking brandy!" He swore loudly, something that not even Lily could find the heart to tell him off for.

"Why Tuney?" she said again, tears pricking in her eyes. "You _know_ it's accidental magic, you _know_ he can't help it! You should be punishing your fat lump of a son for pushing him over, not Harry for something he can't control!" Against her will, a tear leaked out the corner of her eye, and it was a long time before she could collect herself enough to read.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

James smiled slightly and that and Sirius managed to mutter, "A true Marauder," proudly, albeit quietly.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since his parents had died in that car crash.**

James managed a scowl but was too emotional to do much else, something eh would later deny as after all, "feelings are for girls".

**He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain in his forehead.**

A tension-filled silence fell in the room, one that no one dared to break for a while. Finally, James whispered, looking almost tearful, "He survived the killing curse?" No one answered him.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

Suddenly, Lily burst into tears, and had to pass the book for Remus to continue as she struggled to subdue her sobs. He put a comforting arm around her as he read - something that she would have shrugged off had it been any of the other Marauders. As much to his surprise as anyone else's, James didn't scowl. Suddenly, there seemed to be much more important things in the world than his jealousy. Lily tried, and failed, not to feel miffed about this, which only made her angrier. What reason did she have to be upset? James Potter was nothing to her.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

Remus's voice was strained as he read. After all, reading about his friend's deaths was not a very easy thing to do, even when they were living and breathing not ten feet from him. However, he carried determinately on.

**When he was younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.**

"What about us?" Sirius croaked, and for once there was no hint of a smile on his face. "Where were we?" he looked to the future kids for some sort of response, but they were all determinately avoiding his eye. He blinked back the tears he could feel pricking in his eyes. He refused to cry.

**Yet sometimes**

Everyone looked up at the book in hope. _Sometimes what?_

**He thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking him furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.**

Lily sniffed and blew her nose, smiling at the thought of all the people out there who loved her son already, even if he didn't know. It gave her hope.

**The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

Lily smiled again and let out a watery giggle. Remus squeezed her shoulders supportively and she grinned.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Idiots," Peter broke into the silence that ensued at the end of this rather sombre chapter. The Marauders laughed weakly, and even Lily managed a grin. The future children were looking sad at the thought of the treatment Harry had received, and Al was looking at Peter oddly. He seemed to be an alright kid, he mused. If only he didn't know what the little rat was to become.

**Thanks for reading folks! That chapter was very long! The next few chapters will probably take a while longer as they aren't my favourite, but please review! Revies act as my stimulants! :)**


	4. The Letters From No One

**A/N: Thanks everyone who's been reading my story! I love the support! Thanks especially to PrinceDice1, kellseyy, Immortalis Cruor Elf, SkylerBlack, CountDoom, ladydhampir and eaglewings2peace who reviewed the last chapter. Enjoy!**

**3. The Letters from No One**

The gang looked warily at the book as it was passed from Remus to Teddy, who'd taken the armchair to his right. They were quickly coming to expect the sadness or even pure frustration of the last few chapters. Teddy however, grinned broadly as he opened the book and began to read.

**Chapter Three,** he read, **The Letters from No One.**

"HOGWARTS!" all the Marauders suddenly cried as one, and Teddy jumped a foot in the air, dropping the book on the floor.

"Don't do that!" he chided, sending them all reproachful looks, "I'm clumsy enough already, thank you very much!" The future children chuckled in obvious agreement.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.**

James scowled, but decided it was too early on in the reading to interrupt.

**By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

"They better have let him go to school!" Lily said dangerously, clearly not sharing James's view about interrupting early on. The future children shrugged.

**And Dudley had already broken his new cine-camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike,**

"Squashed it!" Sirius butted in, to general laughter. The Potters in particular were practically gleeful about the Dudley-bashing. Their father had forced them to visit him and his little family too many times for their liking.

**Knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"That's horrible!" Lily cried.

"That's Uncle D," muttered James Jr under his breath.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day.**

"Why?" big James growled.

**Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was their leader.**

Peter rolled his eyes, "Infallible logic there," he scoffed. "What?" he said when he realised everyone was staring at him.

"Wow, Wormtail," Said Sirius sombrely, staring at Peter as though he was seeing him clearly for the first time, "That was a pretty complicated word," he heard James chuckling alongside him at Wormtail stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah Wormy," he grinned, ignoring the childish gesture, "You sure you're feeling alright?" Remus even went as far as to get up from his seat and check Wormtail's forehead with the back of his hand for a temperature. James was howling with laughter when Teddy decided it was time to keep reading.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport:**

"Sport?" Sirius cut in before Teddy could expand. "That fat lump actually exercises?" Then he noticed the dark, murderous look that had come over Teddy's face.

"You'll see," the future Lupin said in answer to Sirius's questioning look.

**Harry Hunting.**

Sirius's humorous expression dropped off his face and he scowled darkly, a look that was mirrored in faces all round the room. "Idiot," he muttered.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.**

"HOGWARTS!" the Marauders shouted again and Teddy sighed as he shook his head.

"What?" Sirius asked, and Teddy kept reading as an answer.

**When September came he would be going off to secondary school **

It was only with an extraordinary amount of self-control that Sirius stopped himself from shouting "HOGWARTS!" again.

**and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had a place at Uncle Vernon's old school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to**

Sirius's mouth twitched as he struggled not to shout out.

**Stonewall High,**

"What?" Sirius yelled, furious, and he wasn't alone. James had leapt up from his seat, an angry spark was dancing in Lily's eyes, Remus's hand was balled into a fist on his leg and Peter was glowering at nothing in particular. "Stupid Dursleys," they all muttered dubiously as one.

**The local comprehensive. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practise?"**

"**No thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

The whole room let out a snort of laughter, other than Peter, who just looked confused. "Why did he run?" he asked, looking honestly baffled, "He could've just walked." which brought another round of laughter to the room.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley into London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figg's. Mrs Figg wasn't as bad as usual. I turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.**

Sirius snorted, looking smug. "Stupid cats," he muttered. James Jr chuckled.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted like she'd had it for several years.**

The faces of all the boys in the room twisted into identical looks of disgust, while Lily gave a soft smile. "That's nice of her," she said.

"Is it?" James asked darkly, shooting the book a suspicious look. "So you don't think she was trying to poison him?"

Lily glared at him.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living-room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats,**

Lily's nose was already scrunched in distaste.

**Orange knickerbockers, **

James choked at the mental image.

**And flat straw hats called boaters.**

Everyone in the room determinately avoided each other's eyes.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking.**

"That's barbaric!" Lily cried.

**This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"Good training for later life?" James repeated in revulsion, "They're trained to hit each other with sticks? No wonder Harry's fat lump of an uncle turned out so abusive if that's where he went to school!"

Lily contemplated the look on his face with interest.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers,**

James snorted.

**Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life.**

"What a sad fellow," said Remus idly to general amusement.

**Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said that she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins,**

James chuckled, "Ickle Dudleykins," he shook his head. "Lily, your sister is brilliant!"

Lily scowled.

**He looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might have already cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"That's my boy!" said James proudly, puffing out his chest, "That's right – learn to laugh at people early! I can see a true Marauder in the making." Lily let out a low growl that had Remus scooting away from her, alarmed, and joining Peter on his couch on the other side of Teddy.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen next morning when Harry went in for breakfast.**

At the mention of a horrible smell, everyone turned to look at Peter, who blushed crimson. "What?" he said defensively, "It can't have been me – I'm here!"

**It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink.**

"See?" Peter said, and James and Sirius nodded in acknowledgement.

**He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.**

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

"**Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," He said. "I didn't realise it had to be so wet."**

Remus snorted. "See?" he said, grinning broadly. "Lily's sense of humour, definitely." Lily turned childishly away from him.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old school things grey for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"I'm sure," James scowled.

**Harry seriously doubted this,**

"Like father, like son," Sirius grinned.

**But thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High – like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

Sirius snorted, "Great imagination." He grinned.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform.**

"Maybe they just saw Aunty Tuney's face," James sneered. "Ow!" He exclaimed, glaring at Lily when she threw her wand at him. "What was that for?"

Lily didn't answer, but scowled angrily. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure. She knew that realistically, her loyalties to her sister should have died long ago, as her sister's had done to her, but they couldn't. She didn't know how to explain it. It was like with Snape. Even after they stopped being friends she still fiercely defended him.

**Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smeltings stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the letter-box and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the post, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"You mean the lump's actually doing something?"

"**Make Harry get it."**

"**Get the post, Harry."**

"Oh."

"**Make Dudley get it."**

Sirius snorted, "You tell him Harry!"

"**Poke him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley."**

Sirius frowned and stuck his tongue out childishly at the book.

**Harry dodged the Smeltings stick and went to get the post. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was holidaying on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill**

"Hope it's expensive," James muttered darkly.

**And – **_**a letter for Harry**_**.**

"Why does he sound so surprised?" James muttered, knowing full well the answer.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band.**

"Geez, who knew dad was such a drama queen?" James Jr grinned. Lily and Al snorted, while Teddy merely smirked.

**No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends,**

James scowled.

**No other relatives -**

Sirius frowned.

**He didn't belong to the library**

Lily gasped and stared at the book, horror-struck.

**So he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be nor mistake:**

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs**_

"Damn Dursleys!" James muttered.

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

"Who cares?" said Sirius, exasperated, "Just open the damn thing!"

Teddy sighed, not looking forward to the response from this chapter. Remus, seeing this, narrowed his eyes.

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,**

"Whoooo!" the Marauders yelled.

**An eagle, a badger, and a snake**

"Boo!" the Marauders yelled. Albus and Rose frowned - one of their best friends was a Slytherin – but everyone else gave a hearty chuckle.

**Surrounding a large letter "H".**

Sirius, whom it seemed, could not help it, cried, "HOGWARTS!" very loudly, to general eye-rolling.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter-bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

James and Sirius looked horrified. "That was a joke?" James said weakly, Sirius looked like he might faint. "Why would anyone _do_ that? He's giving a bad name to all jokes everywhere!" Remus rolled his eyes while Peter sniggered.

**Harry went back to the kitchen,**

"No!" said Lily, and ignored James's questioning glance. He'd find out soon enough.

**Still staring at his letter.**

Sirius groaned. "He brought it with him?" James caught on, and looked at Lily, horror-struck. "Is he mad? They'll have it from him in a second!"

**He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Don't be slow about it," Sirius cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "Open it as fast as you can and get the hell out of there, I say!" He blatantly ignored Lily's infuriated look.

What right did he have to judge her family? She thought sourly.

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust**

"Good!" James snarled.

**And flipped over the postcard.**

"**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

"Good!" said James savagely.

"James!" Remus scolded, "She hasn't done anything!"

"She's related to the rhino!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air in a very good impersonation of Lily. "That's motive enough to hate her!" Remus sighed and shook his head. Some battles, he decided, can't be won.

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly.**

"Shut up, you great lump!" Sirius growled.

"**Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Busted!" Peter groaned.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"Give it back you piece of scum!" James roared, and even Lily looked frightened.

"**That's **_**mine!**_**" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"You tell him Harry!" James growled, ignoring Lily who was still looking at him worriedly.

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon,**

"Every bloody person in the wizarding world you walrus!" Teddy said viciously in a way that shocked every one. Rose stared. Teddy was usually so nice. "What?" he said in answer to everyone's looks. "Harry's like a dad to me." Remus looked glumly at the floor.

**Shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights.**

"What are-?"

"Not the time Peter."

**And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.**

Sirius snorted. "Such a handsome man." Lily Jr giggled. She wasn't overly fond of her great uncle.

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"Idiot," Lily and James muttered simultaneously, then turned to stare at each other, flabbergasted. Looking on, Albus smiled. _Can't be long now._ He smiled. _They'll be madly in love in no time. _Feeling satisfied, he turned back to watch Teddy read.

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it,**

"It's none of your damn business you little pig!" James growled. Lily glared at him, that feeling of sisterly protection overwhelming her again.

"James Potter, if you don't stop referring to my future relatives as animals I'm going to hex you. James gulped. Remus sniggered. Lily sat back on the cushions looking satisfied.

**But Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint.**

James rolled his eyes but didn't speak.

**She clutched at her throat**

James opened his mouth and quickly closed it again.

**And made a choking noise.**

James was going steadily red from the effort of not making a disparaging comment. Lily Jr frowned at her grandma's behaviour. It's not like she was exactly crazy about her sister. What gave her the right to judge James for saying things she was probably thinking all along? She began to chew on her lip, feeling uneasy. She'd never imagined her grandmother to be so hypocritical.

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"**

James sighed, resigning himself to a torturous period of silence.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored.**

"Of course he wasn't," James muttered, unable to contain. Lily glared at him. James Jr watched with alarm as his little sister started to go red with annoyance. That never boded well.

**He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smeltings stick.**

Sirius stared. "My mother would slap me if I did something like that." He then added as an afterthought. "Mind you, she'd probably slap me anyway just for the fun of it, but still." James wrapped his arm around his best friend's shoulder supportively. Sirius smiled appreciatively at him.

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"And what exactly entitles you to read that letter you ape?" James said, scowling. Lily growled at him, and Lily Jr turned slightly redder. James Jr started to edge away from his sister nervously. She was honestly scary sometimes.

"_**I**_** want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**."**

Lily and James grinned. They could both sense a Lily-like fury coming up.

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"Good boy!"

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

Teddy grinned. "Ah, the famous Potter temper," he said, smirking at the three future Potters, all of whom blushed and glared effectively proving his point. Remus snorted.

"**Let **_**me**_** see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks**

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SON DURSLEY!" James yelled, making everyone jump. Lily jumped at the chance for a jibe.

"And what about your nephew, Potter? What, you care about your son but not that little boy? What a hypocrite!" James Jr opened his mouth heatedly to defend his grandpa, but someone beat him to the punch.

"Excuse me?" Lily Jr said dangerously, jumping up from the sofa and rounding on her namesake. "Just who are you to call anyone a hypocrite, when you're there yelling at James for judging your family while silently judging them yourself? Just because you don't like him, doesn't give you the right to pick on him for every tiny little thing!" She let out a big breath, looking wholly more relaxed. James Jr sighed, relived. Apparently yelling had made his sister a lot happier … what a scary thought.

Lily Sr however, just stared at her, open mouthed and wide eyed. Then she blinked. "You're right," she said breathlessly, green eyes stunned. "Sorry." She turned to big James. "Sorry James."

James stared. "No problem."

**And threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious fight over who would listen at the keyhole;**

"Go Harry!" Sirius and James cheered, the latter looking at little Lily gratefully and a little reverently when the older one didn't scowl.

**Dudley won,**

"Boo!"

**So Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear,**

"That tends to be a problem," said all three Potter men, and then stared at each other, surprised. Lily Jr giggled, considerably less moody.

**Lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between the door and floor.**

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"Oh yeah," Remus scoffed, "because we have nothing better to do." Peter snorted.

"**Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Someone's _paranoid_!" James sang gleefully. Sirius smirked.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer … yes, that's best … we won't do anything …"**

"It's not going to work!" Peter sang.

"**But -"**

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia!**

"Listen to her you idiot!" Lily said, "She knows a whole lot more than you do!"

**Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Stamp out?" James repeated, looking crazed. "That rhino better not have touched my son."

"He didn't," Teddy said quickly, thinking it best not to mention the fifth year strangling incident. "Don't worry."

James looked slightly mollified.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit!" said Sirius.

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon ad squeezed through the door.**

"Must've been a big doorway."

"**Who's writing to me?"**

"**No one. T was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"Oh yeah, like he's going to believe that!" James snorted, "My son's not an imbecile Dursley!"

"**I have burned it."**

"**It was **_**not**_** a mistake," said Harry angrily. **("You tell him dad!") **"It had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!"**

"Shut up Dursley."

**Yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

James shuddered.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"Hope it was," said James Jr, who had decided to take full advantage of being able to say whatever he wanted about his great uncle without being scolded and was revelling in it. "Stupid walrus." Jr Sr grinned at him proudly.

"**Er – yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking … you're really getting a bit big for it …**

"It's not going to work Dursley," said Lily, looking oddly smug. The others looked at her curiously. "They're trying to confuse the letter writer," she explained.

"Oh." Everyone said as one.

**We think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"Second bedroom?" James boomed, looking murderous. "That fat -" (He said something that made Lily gasp and glare at him, covering Lily Jr's ears) "gets two bedrooms and my son has to live in a -" (Lily covered little Lily's ears again, sending James a reproachful look) "cupboard?"

"Stupid Dursleys," Teddy growled. "Harry's a saint. No one deserves that, but especially not him." Lily, Albus, James and Rose nodded furiously, all of them glowering.

"**Why?" said Harry.**

"**Don't ask questions!"**

"Don't be ugly!"

"James!"

**Snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley's house had four bedrooms:**

James growled.

**One for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors**

Growl.

**(usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge),**

Growl.

**One where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

"Shut _up,_ James!"

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.**

James looked like he was seriously considering growling again, but one look from Lily silenced him. Albus thought he saw her lip twitch though as James looked at the floor, sighing heavily, and the little Potter felt a rush of triumph shoot through him. _Soon…_

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old cine-camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over next door's dog; **

Sirius looked insulted. "Animal abuse!" he declared, to much sniggering and a confused look from Lily.

**In the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite programme had been cancelled; there was a large bird-cage which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air-rifle,**

Lily gasped. "That's dangerous!"

**Which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it.**

Sirius sniggered, but Lily sighed and relaxed.

**Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Lily and Remus exchanged scandalised looks.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother: "I don't **_**want **_**him in there … I **_**need**_** that room … make him get out …"**

At this, James exploded, "What is his _problem_?" He yelled, glaring at the book with furious eyes like burning hazel orbs behind his glasses. "That stupid spoilt brat! Hat the -" ("James!") "Does he need that room _for_? His old rubbish? Why can't he just let my son be happy just this once? What is _wrong_ with him?" He slumped back into the couch, glaring at everyone and everything, but his anger seemed to have died down a bit. It seemed he had needed to get that out of his system.

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

Sirius sighed. He knew full well what it felt like to be shunned by his own family. Some contact from the outside world was always welcome. James put his arm back round his friend, sensing rather than seeing his sadness.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smeltings stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof**

"This child's out of control!" Lily gasped, shocked.

**And he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.**

"Bit late now kiddo," Sirius grinned. Lily and James glared at him, and he quailed under their joint annoyance.

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the post arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry,**

"Nope."

**Made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things**

Sirius giggled. James whacked him over the head.

**With his Smeltings stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one!**

"Idiot!" Sirius said, glaring, "if he wanted to read the letter, what'd he tell them for?" James shrugged, shaking his head at his future nephew's stupidity.

_**Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -"**_

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him.**

"Go Harry!" The two James' grinned as Sirius began to jump up and down on his seat again, chanting "Harry! Harry! Harry!"

Remus sighed and shook his head, motioning for Teddy to continue. Teddy grinned.

**Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

"Harry!" Lily scolded, staring at the book reproachfully. "You shouldn't strangle your uncle!" James however, had different ideas.

"Yes, Harry!" he yelled, drawing scandalous looks from Lily, "Strangle the old bast-"

"James Potter, finish that sentence and _I_ will strangle _you_!" said Lily threateningly. James's voice immediately trailed off. Nudging Sirius, who was sniggering at his predicament, in the ribs to make him shut up, he turned to Teddy, who was grinning at him appreciatively, to hear him read.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smeltings stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"Oh, bugger." Sirius said.

"**Go to your cupboard – I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley – go – just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Uh oh," said Remus, cringing. "Somehow, I don't have a good feeling about this."

"I agree," said Sirius, looking unusually grim. "He _is_ James's son after all."

"Yea – Hey!" James said, looking insulted. "And exactly what do you mean by that?"

"Just that your plans aren't always full proof Prongs," Peter grinned from the sofa. Sirius and Remus grinned at him. The future kids glared at him. James stuck out his tongue and pouted. Lily just sat there shaking her head, and trying not to stare at James's puckered lips.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

Remus blinked. "That's actually not a bad plan."

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall towards the front door –**

The Marauders and James Jr grinned reminiscently. They were all familiar with that feeling.

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

Everyone jumped as Teddy yelled the word as loud as possible. Remus, who's been particularly effected by his super hearing, glared at him reproachfully. "Some warning might be nice." He grumbled, rubbing his sensitive ears. Teddy said nothing, just smiled beatifically at him.

**Harry leapt into the air – he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat – something **_**alive**_**!**

"Huh?"

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised that the big squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

Silence, then "Brilliant!" Sirius yelled, punching the air with his fist. "That's even better than what he was going to do! At least this way he gets to step on the walrus's face!" The room exploded as everyone burst out laughing. They laughed until their faces were red, until they had tears streaming down their cheeks and their throats were raw. When they finally pulled up, Remus was coughing, Peter was gasping for air, Sirius was wiping at his cheeks and James was rubbing at a stitch in his side. Even Lily had to wait a few minutes before the flush faded from her cheeks. James, staring at her appreciatively, thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful. This did nothing to help her blush.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.**

"In all fairness," said Remus, still chortling, "It would've been a good plan if his uncle hadn't thought of it first."

"Bit pointless really," Sirius grinned, leaning back into the cushions and resting his head on his arms. "It's pretty obvious he's going to get the letter some way or another. They should just give it to him before Hogwarts sends someone to do it for them. Because whoever does will not be happy." He looks positively gleeful at the thought. Lily was staring at him. Sure he got good marks in class and stuff, and he never had any trouble with homework, but she'd never heard anything remotely smart or well thought out leave his mouth outside the classroom. Still eying him speculatively, she turned her head slightly to better hear Teddy's reading.

**He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea.**

"Spit in it," said Albus, grinning evilly, which shocked everyone. Then James Jr grinned, and reached over his little sister for a high five.

"Didn't know you had it in you, man," he grinned.

**Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the post had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"Idiot," little Lily muttered.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the letter-box.**

"As if that'll help," Remus scoffed.

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver**_** them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"You think?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me,"**

"For which we are eternally grateful," James scoffed.

**Said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with a piece if fruit cake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

A collective snort went round the room.

**On Friday, no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the letter-box they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.**

Sirius grinned.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front doors so no one could go out.**

Sirius giggled. He really did love Muggles sometimes.

**He hummed "Tiptoe through the Tulips" as he worked,**

The song immediately got stuck in Lily's head and she began to tap her foot.

**And jumped at small noises.**

"Paranoid much?" Sirius grinned evilly.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand.**

Sirius grinned and rubbed his hands together in anticipation, shuffling further forward to the front of the couch. James chuckled as his friend's antics, but couldn't help a small grin.

**Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside of each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milk-man had handed Aunt Petunia through the living-room window.**

James chuckled. "Brilliant."

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to,**

"Not going to work," Peter smirked, looking gleeful. James Jr growled.

**Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food mixer.**

Lily felt tears begin to prick in her eyes and clenched her jaw, breathing heavily.

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you**_** this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Shut up," James growled. All of the children from the future, particularly the Potters and Teddy, were scowling furiously.

"I knew there was a reason I always hated him." James Jr glared.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"Why?" James asked, looking confused. To his surprise, Lily was wearing an evil smirk when she replied.

"There's no post on Sundays in the Muggle world," she explained. Her smile didn't fade.

"So what're you grinning about then?" asked James grumpily, momentarily forgetting that things were different in the wizarding world.

"Because," Lily said slowly, "The same rule doesn't apply to wizards." James stared at her for a second, bemused, then grinned broadly. Sirius chuckled.

"**No post on Sundays,"**

"That's what you think."

**He reminded them happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, **("He's cracked!") **"no damn letters today -"**

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head.**

"Whoo!" James cheered, while Sirius yelled, "Good shot!" Remus shook his head but grinned all the same.

**Next moment, thirty of forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets.**

"Brilliant."

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one –**

"Why didn't he just pick one up off the floor?" Peter asked, confused.

James Jr glared at him, but then turned to grin at his siblings, "Must have been his Seeker reflexes acting out," he muttered. He was very careful to say this quietly enough that James Sr couldn't hear. He could have some fun with this …

"**Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist**

"Hands off Dursley!" Teddy snarled.

**And threw him into the hall.**

A series of growls went round the room.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

Sirius grinned. It was a pretty funny mental image.

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time.**

Lily stared. This man was insane!

"**I want you all back here in five minutes, ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing**

"Nice." Sirius snorted.

**That no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat;**

"Good!" James snorted.

**His father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, video and computer in his sports bag.**

James Jr chuckled gleefully … and promptly got hit over the head by his little sister.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. **

"Of course - they're not allowed to ask questions," Remus rolled his eyes and scowled. "Not if they want a quiet life."

**Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turning and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

"**Shake 'em off … shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

Sirius chuckled delightedly. Though this was an obvious exception, he did love Muggles. They were just so clueless.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life.**

"Welcome to Harry's world," James muttered, looking honestly anguished. Why did his son have to go through so much? Lily blinked and tried not to cry again. She was such a bad parent! Why didn't she care that much?

**He was hungry, he'd missed five television programmes he'd wanted to see and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets.**

Peter screwed up his nose.

**Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the window-sill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering …**

"What about?" Sirius asked.

"The letter-writer I would guess," Lily replied, rolling her eyes in a routine gesture.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast next day.**

"Lovely," said James, scrunching up his face in distaste. Peter reached into his pocket and took out another piece of cheese, nibbling on it in relief, as though to assure him that there was still some good food in the world. Beside him, Remus chuckled.

**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

**Harry made a grab for the letter**

"Get it Harry!" Sirius yelled.

**But Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way.**

He sighed. "This is just getting plain frustrating!"

**The woman stared.**

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining-room.**

"Git."

"Bully."

"Worthless piece of -"

"James!"

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home dear?"**

"Yes Tuney, it would."

**Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and off they went again.**

"Cracked," Sirius muttered, shaking his head and grinning.

**The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-storey car park.**

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

"Why yes, Dudley. Yes, he has." Sirius chortled.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared.**

Peter looked confused. "I thought Muggles didn't know how to disappear."

James stared at him in disbelief, and then chucked a shoe at his head, "It's a figure of speech Wormtail," he said, wondering just how anybody could be quite so stupid. Surely there was a level of stupidity beneath which someone couldn't dip? He stared at Wormtail a little more before tuning back into the reading.

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother.**

"Wow, he knows the days of the week," Sirius gasped, gripping at James's arm and breathing heavily. "It's the apocalypse! Quick, run! We're all going to die!"

"Get off me, you maniac!" James shook Sirius off, looking highly amused.

"**The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" Everybody yelled at the top of their lungs, including Lily, to general surprise.

"BLOODY HELL!" Remus yelled, and Teddy also had to clap his hands over his ears. "GUYS! NOT COOL!"

"Oops, sorry Remus." James grinned sheepishly, while the other Potters shot Teddy sympathetic looks. The two Lupins scowled.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun – last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat-hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

James sighed, but didn't yell. There was only so much someone could yell before they used up their quota of anger for the day.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

Lily smiled at her son's optimistic attitude (not that it'd last long but she didn't know that) while the younger Potters smiled, still trying to wrap their heads around and eleven year old Harry. Teddy grinned.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.**

"Uh-oh."

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

Lily gulped. She had a bad feeling about that.

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock out to sea.**

Lily's eyes narrowed. She didn't like that.

**Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

Lily's eyes were now slits. She really didn't like that.

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, **("Strange bloke," Sirius muttered) **clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

"Evil old man!" Sirius muttered, looking crazed, and started muttering about not trusting toothless people. James face-palmed and gestured for Teddy to continue.

"**I've already got some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible;**

"So's your face!" Sirius grinned, cackling evilly. James shot him an odd look and began to edge slowly away from him on the couch.

**It smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls and the fire-place was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a packet of crisps each and four bananas.**

Sirius and Peter exchanged horrified looks. That wasn't food!

**He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp packets just smoked and shrivelled up.**

"Ha!" Said Sirius, "That's what you get for being a pig! Ow!" he glared at Lily and he peeled her rolled up school jumper from his face. "What was that for?"

"Idiot! Harry's going to be cold!" she said, glaring at him. Sirius gulped and hid behind James, who gulped at hid behind Peter, who gulped and hid behind Remus, who gulped and hid behind Teddy, who gulped and stared at Lily wide-eyed. Lily Jr stuffed her fist into her mouth to stop herself laughing.

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

James pulled a face.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver post. **

"Idiot," said James scornfully.

**Harry privately agreed,**

"Does that mean your son's and idiot too James?" Sirius snickered, then ducked as James chucked his wand at him.

**Though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell,**

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little baby …" Teddy froze as Sirius began to croon. James, wide eyed and horrified-looking, scooched right up to the very edge of the sofa, while the future children looked at each other in shock. "I don't believe it!" James Jr muttered to Albus over Lily's head, "Azkaban made Sirius sane!"

**The promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered against the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. **

"Sounds like such a charming place," Sirius turned to grin at James then realised he wasn't there. "James?" he suddenly spotted his friends hunched at the end of the sofa. "What're you doing over there?" he asked confused. He scooted over to sit closer to him. James looked positively terrified.

**Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

James sighed.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

Sirius was seriously considering putting a gag in James's mouth to stop the constant sighing.

**Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" Sirius yelled.

**He lay and watched his birthday**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!"

"Shut up Padfoot." James muttered.

**Tick nearer, wondering if the Dursley's would remember it at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!"

"Padfoot!" said James in a warning tone.

**Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!"

"Sirius!"

**Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!"

"SIRIUS BLACK, SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!"

**Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go)**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAR-!"

"_Silencio_!" James grinned as Sirius began to glare and made rude hand gestures, then shot an appreciative look at Rose who smiled as she tucked her wand back into the pocket of her robes.

**What was that funny crunching noise? Was that the rock crumbling into the sea?**

With Sirius finally being quiet, James was able to notice the signs – someone was approaching the hut. He grinned. This could only be good.

**One minute to go**

James shot a smug look at Sirius who was trying desperately to shout out, and continued to watch him as though he were a very interesting TV programme as Teddy read.

**And he'd be eleven.**

Sirius shot a betrayed look at James and mimed something very rude indeed. James merely cupped his ear and said very loudly and clearly, "I can't hear you!" Lily Jr giggled, and even Lily Sr had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from laughing. James grinned and stuck his tongue out at Sirius as the latter mimed something that James translated to mean something along the lines of: "Betrayal of trust" and "supposed to be my friend". James grinned.

**Thirty seconds …**

"Evil basta-" He checked to make sure Lily hadn't somehow understood and was about to tell him off before finishing off his angry miming.

**Twenty …**

"Grr…"

Nothing.

**Ten –**

Wounded look.

Nothing.

**Nine – **

Puppy dog eyes (which he was astonishingly good at). Nothing worked with this man!

**Maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him – **

"Do it Harry!" James said gleefully, and Sirius grinned, forgetting he was annoyed at him.

**Three –**

Sirius forgot his angry miming, leaning forward in his seat to see what happened.

**Two – one – **

**BOOM.**

"For Merlin's sake!" Remus screamed as Teddy yelled the word at the top of his lungs. "There'll be no more shouting in here!" he said, practically screeching his lungs out, "No more I say! No more! This is now a shouting free zone! I declare!" There was a moment of silence while everyone stared at him … before they all fell on the floor laughing. Even Sirius, who had tears streaming down his cheeks as completely silent howls of laughter shook through him. The look on his face had James falling over himself all over again.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

And on that dramatic note, Teddy passed the book on to James, who took it eagerly and began to read.

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about any lateness, typos or OTT ridiculous silliness in this chapter! I hope you liked it! Review! I'll pay you … in virtual hugs :D**


	5. The Keeper of the Keys

**A/N: I know I suck. I've been trying to update quicker, honest! But FF was being all weird and then my laptop broke and I had to start the whole thing again. Sorry guys! Anyway, thanks to SillyChicha14, MinutestoMidnight1997, eaglewings2peace, SkylerBlack, Cherry2, kellseyy, kitty-whiskers, ElEkTrA-fLuEr230 (God that was hard to type :P ), BeckyBoo12221 and PLKBerry for reviewing the last chapter :D I love you all!**

**4. The Keeper of the Keys**

James grinned down at the title and gave a soft chuckle before beginning to read.

**Chapter 4,** he read, **The Keeper of the Keys.**

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

"Go back to sleep," Sirius grumbled.

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

Remus snorted.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle**

"WHAT?" Lily cried, voice jumping up two octaves. "A _gun_? He brought a GUN?"

"Geez, Lily, cool it," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "And what's a gun?"

Lily glared. "It's like the Muggle version of the killing curse," she said heatedly. There was a blink of silence, then –

"A GUN?" Sirius roared. Remus shook his head sadly.

**In his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package** (Sirius snickered) **he had brought with them.**

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you – I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then – **

**SMASH!**

Remus jumped and rubbed his ears. "Who was the genius who gave James the loud chapter?" he said, glaring at the other Marauder.

"Guilty," Teddy said, also grimacing.

Remus narrowed his eyes at him, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Go to your room." Teddy snorted.

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash **

Remus winced at the mere thought of such a noise. He immediately wished he hadn't when he saw the evil smirk on Sirius's face that said he was planning some elaborate, very noisy prank as they sat. Remus groaned.

**Landed flat on the floor. **

**A giant of a man **

"Whoo, Hagrid!" Sirius and James cheered, then laughed and high-fived. Peter laughed along with them.

**Was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

The Marauders and the future kids all smiled affectionately at the description. Sirius snorted. "He makes him sound so much scarier than he is," he grinned.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey ..."**

Everyone, including the future kids who'd rest this already, snorted with laughter. James grinned and shook his head. "Only Hagrid," he chortled affectionately.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

"Kick him!" Sirius pleaded.

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Rose grinned.

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother****,**

"And how'd that work out for you?"

**Who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"Ah."

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"Harry, don't be rude," Lily scolded. "He's only half giant." James snickered.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"Of course, Hagrid's a real softie," James Jr grinned.

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, ****but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

Lily smiled softly to herself, and then saw that James was doing the same thing and promptly felt disgusted.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**I de****mand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"Oh, shut up!"

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,"**

Sirius grinned.

**S****aid the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Go Hagrid!" the Marauders all cheered.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

Lily snorted.

**"Anyway –**** Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

"Uh oh," said Sirius and James in unison, and for the millionth time Lily found herself wondering how it was possible that they weren't brothers when they were so ridiculously similar.

"He's given him food." said James.

"Don't eat it, Harry!" said Sirius.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry**_** written on it in green icing.**

The two Lilys' and Rose cooed. "That's so sweet," Lily Sr smiled.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you." **

"Mind your manners," Lily frowned. James chuckled but quickly turned it to a cough when Lily shot him a death glare. Man, she was good at those!

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"Yes, he tends to do that," said Rose dryly.

**"What about that tea then, eh." he said, rubbing his hands together.**** "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid!" Lily said warningly, narrowing her eyes at the book. "You will not drink in front of my son." She said the words in that "and that's final" tone, and the other occupants of the room determinately avoided each other's eyes.

Finally, Remus (Who figured he was the least likely to be hexed for pointing it out) said, "Um, Lily? You do realise you're talking to a book right?"

Lily blinked. "Of course," she said, but she blushed pink and began to brush at an imaginary speck on her robes. "Of course I know that."

Sirius sniggered. "Sure," he said under is breath.

"What was that Sirius?"

"Nothing, nothing …"

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivel****led crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, **

James chuckled affectionately. "Ah, Hagrid." He said.

**A****nd began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

"That's … normal," said Sirius, but he was grinning widely. He gave James a funny look which Remus and Peter had no trouble translating at all: Merlin, James, I just had a totally awesome idea for a prank!

Remus groaned. Peter kept watching their silent conversation: Seriously? Me too! Marauder meeting after this!

Sirius grinned: Sure thing!

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. **

Sirius began salivating.

**Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt**

Sirius pouted. "Aww, they were sounding so good up till then!" his stomach rumbled. "How long till breakfast?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "We'll go right after this chapter Sirius," he said, and Sirius threw himself at him.

"Oh, Moony!" he said, fake-sobbing and clinging onto him as if his life depended on it. "What would I do without you?"

Remus cringed away from him looking horrified, and tried in earnest to throw him off. "Get off of me you stinking dog!" he cried.

The two James' snickered.

**S****ausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

James snorted. "Like you're fat little lump of a son needs any more feeding up, Dursley." Lily privately agreed.

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

James blinked, then – "Alright!" he said, giving Sirius a happy high five. "I have the same thoughts as Hagrid!" he seemed positively delighted.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful,**

"So hungry," Sirius moaned.

**But he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I**'m Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

"Ooh, this should be good," Sirius grinned, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.****

"Er – no," said Harry.

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

James looked nonplussed. "What's he apologising for?"

The younger Potters shook their heads. "Beats me," said Lily. "Dad has a habit of putting all the blame from anything on himself."

Sirius snorted. "Wonder where he gets that from, eh Prongs?" James blushed. He didn't so it that much! Honest!

**"**_**Sorry?**_**" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! **

James nodded emphatically.

**I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all."**

**"All what****?" asked Harry.**

Sirius looked delighted.

**"ALL WHAT?****" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole h****ut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at**** the Dursleys, "that this boy – this boy! - knows nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?" **

"Ouch!" laughed Sirius, grinning broadly.

"Way to go, Hagrid," James sighed, shaking his head. "Seriously, you should know he's not going to take that well."

Sirius gave him a weird look. "Um, James? He's Hagrid. _I'm_ Sirius." The Marauders groaned.

"Not that god-awful pun _again_!"

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

James Jr sniggered.

**"I know **_**some**_** things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff." **

The future Potters were full out laughing now, and Teddy was chuckling affectionately and shaking his head.

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our**_** world, I mean. **_**Your**_** world. **_**My**_** world. **_**Yer parents'**_** world." **

**"What world." Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

James and Sirius looked gleeful.

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something th****at sounded like "Mimblewimble."**

Lily Jr snorted. "Yup, that sound like great Uncle Vernon – a coward through and through,"

James Jr gave an exaggerated sniff and faked wiping a tear from his cheek. "So wise," he said and began to heave with false (but still very noisy) sobs.

Lily Jr shot him am exasperated look.

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**.**_** You're **_**famous."**

**"What. My – my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

Albus snorted and shook his head reminiscently. "So clueless," he said, shaking his head.

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally.**

"Yes, Harry, how could you possibly not know who you are?" Sirius exclaimed in a very overdramatic voice. "You must find out Harry! You must find out who you are!" Remus sighed and face-palmed.

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"Of course he did," James grumbled.

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!" A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him. Never told him what was in the**** letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years."**

**"Kept what from me." said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

"Oh, shut up!"

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Drama queen," James and Lily Jr muttered, then blinked and grinned widely at each other.

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid.**

"You tell 'em Hagrid!" Sirius cheered.

"**Harry – yer a wizard."**

Everyone stared.

"Well," said James at last, "That was … abrupt."

Suddenly Sirius was rolling on the floor laughing. "Only … Hagrid!" he got out between howls of laughter. Lily forcefully pursed her lips and tried not to laugh. It was Black and Potter after all.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry.**

Sirius chuckled affectionately. His godson was great.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad lik****e yours, **

James smiled happily, and Lily was disturbed to notice that, for once, there was no arrogance in his expression. She frowned and put the matter from her mind as she listened to him read.

**What else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea**_**. He pulled out the letter and read: **

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL**__** OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY **_

_**Headmaster: **__**Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr. Potter, **_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

Yours sincerely,

**Minerva McGonagall**

**Deputy Headmistress**

"Doesn't change much, does it?" asked Sirius, pouting. "It's so boring!"

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What ****does it mean, they await my owl?" **

"_That_ was his first question?" Remus snorted, grinning broadly. It was just such a James-like thing to do.

The children from the future grinned. "Typical Harry," Teddy said warmly, shaking his head a little. Lily Jr giggled.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse,**

Sirius looked momentarily interested. "You reckon Hagrid's ever thought about sumo wrestling?" he asked, looking fascinated. "He could make himself a fortune." James scooted away from Sirius on the couch – the mental image of Hagrid in a pair of wrestlers' nappies a lot more than he wanted to see … ever.

**A****nd from yet****another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl – a long quill, and a roll of parchment.**

With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down: 

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore, **_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible**_**. **_**Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

Sirius sniffed. "It's just …" he said, making a show of wiping his eyes. "It's just such a … such a … lovely … letter!" and with that, he fell to the floor, where he shook with fake sobs, till James took matters into his hands and gave him a hearty kick.

"Traitor!" Sirius glared as he got up off the floor and sat back of the sofa, rubbing his bruised arm.

James looked smug.

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"What's a telephone?"

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

James Jr snickered. "And he always told us it was rude to stare," he said to his brother and sister, grinning broadly. Lily Jr hit him.

**"Where was I?****" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"Oh, go away!" Lily and Sirius snarled, then turned to stare at each other, both looking horrified. Teddy smirked.

**"He's not going," he said.**

"Shut up, walrus," James snapped. He was shooting Lily and Sirius suspicious and slightly weirded-out looks. Sirius rolled his eyes at him and shook his head emphatically. James gave him a reluctant smile.

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?****" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call non****-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "****swore we'd stamp it out of him!**

The room went deathly quiet.

"Stamp it out?" James said in a deadly voice. "And _what_ is that supposed to mean?"

No one answered him.

**Wizard indeed!" **

**"You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a – a wizard?"**

Lily snorted. "_Knew_?" she said derisively. "Of course she _knew_! How could she not, her 'dratted sister' being what she was?"

James shot her a concerned look (which she ignored) before turning back to the book. He almost choked on thin air at what he saw. He shot Lily a strange look before reading.

**"**_**Knew!"**_** shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew!**_** Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? **

Lily blinked, astounded, and stared at the book. This book was making her sound more and more like her _beloved_ sister, and that could only be a bad thing. She swore to herself then and there to be better from now on. She'd have to apologise to Potter after this chapter. She groaned at the very thought.

**O****h, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that – that **_**school**_** – and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats.**

"I think she's jealous," said Sirius, for once uncharacteristically quiet. It was easy helping others out with their sibling issues. It was a lot harder when your brother was a Voldemort supporter and set on the path to become a Death Eater. He felt a violent shudder pass through him and tried hard to ignore James's questioning look probing into his side. Sometimes, it sucked to be him.

**I was the only one**** who saw her for what she was – a freak! **

Lily winced.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"Yup, definitely jealous," said James, still shooting Sirius concerned looks.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the s****ame, just as strange, just as – as – **_**abnormal**_** – **

Lily hissed.

**A****nd then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

James cringed. No one deserved to find out how their parents died this way. He wished Lily would stop hating him soon so he could give her a hug. He'd deny it later of course but right now he could do with the support.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up****? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car c****rash kill Lily an' James Potter?**

Lily winced. So maybe she'd decided to try to give James a chance – didn't mean she had to like how their names were coupled together whenever they cropped up. It made her skin crawl. Although … Lily Potter … it had a nice ring to it.

**It's an outrage! A scandal!**

James nodded forcefully.

**Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our ****world knows his name!" **

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right pers****on ter tell yeh – but someone's gotta – yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would be priceless," James Jr snorted, a look of pure mirth on his face. "Can you imagine what would have happened?" he said to his brothers and sisters. "Dad would've been so freaked out." Albus snickered.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

James and Sirius followed his example.

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it****'s a great myst'ry, parts of it ..." **

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said****, "It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –"**

**"Who****?"**

"Not going to work, Harry," said Sirius solemnly. "I've tried a million times to get Hagrid to say his name, but he wont budge. He's so stubborn!" he pouted. The future kids exchanged smirks.

**"Well –**** I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"See?"

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went**** ... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was ..." Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"****Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah ****– can't spell it. All right – **_**Voldemort**_**."**

Sirius suddenly looked murderous. "_WHAT?_" he screamed, glaring from the book to the future children furiously, as if trying to decide who to be mad at. "Five hours! I spent _five hours_ down at that hut trying to get him to say that god forsaken name and this kid comes along and it takes him _two minutes_?" He glowered at the other Potters. "Well? Answer me!"

"Um," said James Jr, looking honestly alarmed. His dad hadn't mentioned that Sirius was completely loony whenever he spoke about him. He searched for the right thing to say. "We're … sorry?" he tried.

Sirius huffed. "Bloody well should be," he said moodily, then went off into a strop, throwing himself onto the sofa cushions with unnecessary force. The strength of the move made James jump and fall over. He glared at Sirius through only half-irritated hazel eyes as he righted himself. He honestly looked quite amused.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make ****me say it again.**

"Humph!" said Sirius.

**Anyway, this –**** this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches ... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew.****  
Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day!**

"_WHAT?_" this time it wasn't Sirius but James who spoke, mouth gaping open and looking honestly horrified. "Head boy?" he yelped. He looked like he wanted to puke. "No way!"

Sirius was staring at James as if he'd never seen him before. "Mate!" he exclaimed, thunder-struck. "We had a pact!"

**Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before**** ... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

James nodded proudly, chin up and defiance shining in his eyes, although he was still a little pale after the head boy announcement. Lily privately thought the proud look rather suited him, but she wasn't going to let him know that, so she just rolled her eyes.

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old.**

By now, everyone was looking thoroughly depressed. A hushed, unnatural silence was throbbing in the room.

**He ****came ter yer house an' – an' –"**

Sirius swallowed loudly.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry,****" he said. "But it's that sad – knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway –**

Lily looked a little thoughtful at that. Generally she thought Hagrid was a pretty good judge of character. And Hagrid liked Potter. That had to mean something right?

**"You-****Know-Who killed 'em.**

Sirius whimpered. James shot him a pitying glance and pulled him into a brotherly (and, of course, manly) hug. Sirius smiled weakly at him while Remus mimed retching into a bucket much to Peter's amusement. Once again, Al was baffled by the display of brotherly affection. How could Wormtail, who seemed as if nothing made him happier than being with his friends at the moment, be the cause of their deaths? It made no rational sense.

**An' then –**** an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing – he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it.**

Once again, all the present people looked baffled at how that was physically possible. Sirius thought hard, but stopped because it hurt his head.

**Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead****? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh – took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even – but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age – **

Everyone tensed, wondering how many of their closest friends had died at the hands of this evil maniac.

**T****he McKinnons,**

Lily gasped. "Marlene!" she choked out, then began to cry in earnest, a hand over her mouth and tears blurring her vision. Someone put their arm around her and she leaned into the touch, burring her face in the person's neck as she sobbed.

**The Bones,**

Lily began keening loudly.

**T****he Prewetts –**

"No!" groaned the Marauders, and James and Sirius felt themselves go deathly pale. They, in particular, were extremely close to the Prewett twins – or, as they called them, he pranksters of another era. Lily gave another sob. Not Molly, too! She thought, distraught.

**A****n' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he ****had ever remembered it before – and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life – a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

Lily gasped. "He remembers that?" she asked. She was still crying, but her tears were beginning to clear a little. She pulled out of the person's embrace and looked up to smile gratefully at them. She froze. It was Potter. She blushed furiously and turned away, face burning and eyes still stinging with tears. She focused again on the reading.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot**** ..."**

Lily sniffed, partly disapprovingly, and partly because there were still tears leaking down her face.

**"Load of old tosh,"**

"Your face," Sirius grumbled, not in a particularly good mood after hearing about the death of the best friend he'd ever had.

**S****aid Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped, he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

"Leave Hagrid alone!" James snarled.

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a goo****d beating wouldn't have cured – and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, **

"Shut it, Dursley!" Sirius snarled, cold fury dancing in his grey eyes.

**N****o denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion – **

Sirius quite looked like he wanted to punch something.

**A****sked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end – "**

At this, Sirius leapt to his feet, and he wasn't alone. Remus and Peter were also standing, glowering at the book in such a way that James was afraid it would catch fire and burn his beautiful hands. Sirius stalked over to the punch bag in the corner and gave it a brutal swing that nearly knocked it off the wall. "Take. That. You. Little. Piece. Of. Sh-"

"Sirius!" Lily scolded, looking frankly alarmed. She felt a little awed. It was clear Potter's friends thought _very_ highly of him, although she wasn't at all sure why. Maybe there was some hidden aspect of his personality that he was concealing from her …

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley ****– I'm warning you – one more word ... "**

"You tell him, Hagrid," Sirius growled. He'd got his fill of beating the punch bag to a pulp and had slouched back over to the sofa, where he slumped into his seat looking supremely mad.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

James chuckled softly in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**** Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol –, sorry – I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"No, Harry!" said Sirius urgently, "Don't let him stop you saying his name! Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself!"

Lily stared at him, taken aback by this sudden display of wisdom.

"Dumbledore told him," James said, leaning over to whisper in her ear. Lily could smell his cologne in her nose. She didn't know what it was, but it smelt _good_. She stifled a giggle behind her hand and James raised an astonished eyebrow. That was new.

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see**** ... he was gettin' more an' more powerful – why'd he go? **

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'e****m came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

Remus nodded thoughtfully, trying to work it out. He sighed in frustration when no answer popped to mind.

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there ****somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry.  
There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on – **_**I**_** dunno what it was, no one does – but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had be****en a horrible mistake.**

Remus chuckled. "I guess he's more like Lily than James then," he grinned.

"Ye – Hey!" James cut off mid-nod and pouted, glaring at his so called 'friend'. "Moony!"

Lily smirked and was alarmed when she realised that it lacked its usual bite. What was happening to her?

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be?**** He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?**

Lily didn't know whether to glare at the first bit or giggle at the last and ended up looking quite constipated. But very beautifully so, James thought with a snicker.

**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to ****kick him around like a football?**

James and Sirius growled.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I ****don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

"No, never!" Sirius exclaimed, mock-shocked. "That boa-constrictor? That wasn't me – that was my identical twin Bernie! You've got the wrong person!"

James gave him a strange look. "What?" said Sirius defensively. "It's not my fault I'm touched in the head!"

James grinned. "I know, but … Bernie?" he screwed up his face in distaste. "I would never name Harry's twin that."

Sirius chuckled.

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it**** ... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry ... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach ...**

"Which was seriously awesome by the way," said Sirius, a strange light in his eyes that Remus recognised all too well.

"Oh no," he groaned in mock horror, then fell to his knees. "Not the pun! Oh please, not the pun!"

Peter grinned broadly and helped himself to some more cheese, nibbling on it like popcorn.

**D****reading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... **

"Potter hair," said James smugly. "It's a bloody nuisance but it does have its uses." Sirius snorted.

**A****nd the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"I still say that was brilliant," Sirius grinned.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

James mumbled something that Sirius couldn't hear. Moony however, with his werewolf hearing, was rolling around on the floor laughing. James just kept muttering. Sirius was fairly sure he heard the word "buffalo" but didn't know where that came into anything.

**"Ha****ven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and –"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts!**

There it was again! Lily sighed. 'Lily and James' Was it possible for anyone to talk about one of them without talking about the other anymore?

**Yer mad.**** His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled –"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Ooh!" Sirius said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "He's for it now!"

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and w****hirled it over his head, "NEVER –" he thundered, " – INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain.**

Sirius sat further forwards on the couch eagerly, grinning from ear to ear.

**When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

"HA!" a roar passed through the room. James had fallen off the sofa and was now rolling around on the floor shaking with laughter. Remus and Peter were holding onto each other for support as they howled, and Sirius was clutching at his sides in obvious pain as he laughed himself into stitches. But it was Lily whose reaction surprised them the most. She was rolling around on the floor, laughing hysterically like some kind of hyped up hyena. The future kids just bawled, laughter shaking through them, tears of mirth streaking down their cheeks.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

Sirius grinned and shook his head. "Wonder if Hagrid's ever considered a career in pranking," he said, still chortling. "He's wasted as a gamekeeper."

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper,"**

"Yes," grinned Sirius, "you really should."

**he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

James chortled appreciatively.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at H****ogwarts," he said. "I'm – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff – one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job –"**

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

"He's not going to tell you," Sirius sang.

Remus smirked. "That's what you said about him saying Voldemort's name, too. Maybe you were wrong twice."

Sirius glared.

**"Oh, well –**** I was at Hogwarts meself but I – er – got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

"Ha! See?" Sirius grinned smugly. "He's not any better at this sort of thing than me!"

James Jr gave a small cough. "Um, actually, he does find out why Hagrid was expelled," he corrected. "Just not this year."

"_WHAT?_"

James Jr snickered.

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' ****dormice in one o' the pockets."**

"Breakfast!" Peter said eagerly, and Sirius, who was still fuming about the whole Hagrid-liking-miniProngs-more-than-him thing, perked up immediately.

"Food! Yum!" he said, and jumped to his feet and tore from the room.

Rolling his eyes, James stood up and made to go after him, but was stopped by a timid hand on his arm and a voice in his ear.

"Um, James?" he froze. "Can we talk?"

**URGH! Sorry that took so long, but my laptop broke down and we had to pay some guy a LOT of money to transfer the files onto my computer. I hope you liked it. Review!**


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